Perfect Segway Diaster Clip

I don't know when it stopped being fashionable for Youtube videos to feature people killing themselves, but I'm glad this movie shows a nice return to form.

Who's Amung Us to Eventually Offer Pro Edition

To be fair, it's still not released and it doesn't affect the free version at all.

But it seems like eons ago when I first discovered that handy little widget. I can't even remember when it was, really.


What it first looked like


What it looks like now

I guess everything grows up.

Jaguar Baby Born Two Months Old

"Two-month old black Jaguar cub born in captivity at the Huachipa zoo in Lima, Peru."

Hold up, aren't baby Jaguars usually born aged zero? You mean this one is special enough to be born instantly at age two months?

Link Chain
Me -> Stranger Fruit (where I got it) -> Green Expander

How NOT to Send an E-mail

So I got another e-mail from Rome, whatever the heck that is.




I knew why this was a shady internet scheme from the start. This second e-mail only makes it more obvious. Let me break it down for you.



Now, the giant flash ads in an e-mail are NOT recommended under any circumstance. That's just being more than a little obnoxious, right?

But apparently their writing skills suck so much they need you to see two giant ads for their "game" or whatever before you're hooked. I guess it's just poetic justice that the only company willing to advertise with Rome is Rome itself.

Shameful.

Tomorrow it will Finally be 2009

Man, ever since I got Madden 09 and Worldwide Soccer Manager 09, I've been thinking it's 2009 already. So it's reassuring to know that tomorrow, it finally will be.

Additionally, tomorrow it will be 10 years from 1999, a fact that still bothers me. It seems I like thinking of all dates in relation to the year 2000; it's a nice, easy, rounded year. This stops working when I actually start thinking it's 2000.

Time is a tricky concept to master.

Cozier Electronics

Remember back when I made all those videos of myself and ruthlessly posted them on my blog? Oh, those were the days...

So now my friend has the video making blog. But instead of videos of himself, he's making Sims 2 Machinima. Which is alright, as I'm doing the voices.

Near as I can tell, I do the voice of the redhead. So go ahead and watch them.

CoZier Electronics Holiday Special


CoZier Electronics Ep. 3


CoZier Electronics Ep 2


I hope you enjoyed listening to me talk.

From the Wikipedia article for Mobile Web;

"This article was originally created and edited using the Web on mobile devices."

At least those many years of registering on random websites prepared me for applying to colleges...

Hot New Show I'm Loosely Associated With

Looking for that next new interesting show you can't get enough of?

Get a load of Cozier Electronics, the hit new Sims 2 machinima that's sweeping the world by storm.





And if you liked it, why not come visit our page on Facebook® and become our fan?

There's No School Today!

First of all, let me back up and tell you the story.

Alright, so first off, I live in Oregon. It's in the rainy part of the United States. It means we usually get craploads of rain, but never any snow. So when we do get snow, then everything erupts in snow fever.

From this Monday to this Friday, that should have been the week before Winter Break. Winter Break is the long vacation students get for what started as Christmas and ended up as “The Holidays.”

So I got up last Sunday, and I was mostly ready for school. Then 5 pm came, and it frigging snowed. Snowed. Outside. With no warning.

School was cancelled. And that's when the first few thoughts of, “School's out for the week,” started happening. But I was equally quick to think, “Nah, it'll never happen.” It seemed like a pipe dream, after all.

I spent the snow day doing thing, probably the same thing I'd do if it were the first day of Winter Break. I was aided in the fact that I didn't really have any pressing homework to do for Tuesday.

But then it happened. Again.

They canceled school, right at about 5 pm again. It was pretty nice having two days.

But that's when the feelings of grandeur came flowing in. There was snow on the ground, and it would be freezing cold the whole week. Everyone couldn't help but think that school would be canceled for the whole week.

Wednesday came along and there was no school. But this time, Beaverton School District (hereafter referred to as BSD) decided to make things interesting. They didn't immediately cancel school at 5pm, even though there was snow on the ground and it was going to be cold tomorrow. They said those fateful words of

“Good Evening, the Beaverton School District is closely monitoring the national weather forecast and consulting with our local weather service to make a call for Thursday (12/18/2008). No decision has been made at this time. We will decide by 10:00 p.m. tonight or may wait until 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. We need more information on the cold weather pattern that may be developing.”

Thankfully, they told us at about 8pm there was no school, but they had me going for a bit.

As it turned out, Thursday was warmer than freezing, which meant all the snow melted and it was sunny. Cold, but sunny. But it left Friday hanging.

And that's where the story really starts. My parents were saying there would be school tomorrow. The weather said it would be freezing. BSD wasn't saying anything. There was nothing to go off of. And it didn't look like it would be an obvious call.

“The Beaverton School District is closely monitoring changing conditions, and consulting with our local and national weather services to make a call for Friday. No decision has been made at this time. We will decide by 10:00 p.m. tonight (Thursday) or may wait until 5:00 a.m. tomorrow (Friday) morning.”

The standard canned response. Things got a bit more frantic as time went on. BSD's website got more and more bogged down as time went on. Then, right at 10pm, my friend in the know tells me,

“Good evening, no decision will be made regarding the status of school operations until Friday morning. Our greatest concern at this time is the possibility of black ice on side roads and at higher elevations. A team will be driving the roads at 3:30 a.m., and a decision will be posted before 5:30 a.m. Thank you again for your patience as we continue to monitor the safety of our students and staff.”

It's not a no, I'll say that.

So I had to debate, do my homework? Get up early to check? I decided to get up at 5am and check.

I checked. Nothing. So I wasted some time, waited around, checked a few more times, and got this;

“Schools Closed to Students and Staff, Friday (12/19/2008). All Activities and Events Cancelled. Administration Facilities Open to Essential Staff”

That's it! We won! We beat BSD! No school for a whole week.

Now I just wish I knew about it ahead of time so I could have put it to good use.

Free Ebook List that isn't Crap

Yeah, there are tons of lists out there that have a million crappy book links. Here's one with a few good links.

This list created with the Sony PRS-505 in mind.

For Almost Anything;
MobileRead - Go to the "Search E-books" tab, and enter in something. While it may be a bit hard to actually find the books, the books you get are inarguably the best on the internet.
Then Feedbooks - This website is for what you can't find on MobileRead. For the most part they're good, but MobileRead's posters go over the book by hand to check for typos and errors in scanning.
Then Manybooks.net - ManyBooks comes last because they don't give a table of contents in their automatically generated ebooks. At least it's a step up from reading Gutenburg .txt files.

Another Helpful Hint
DOWNLOAD CALIBRE! - Calibre is a very important tool for anyone with anyone with an ebook reader. It can manage your ebook library (personally I prefer Sony's stuff because it paginates), it can convert from one format to another, but most importantly, it can download RSS feeds and convert them to eBooks. There are plenty of pre-made "recipes" for English-speakers, and a few in other languages. Definitely check this program out.

More Random Free Stuff
Free Online Novels.com - About half the novels on this page have PDF versions; those are the ones you can use on your Sony Reader. Personally, I convert them to LRF with Calibre.
Free eBooks Just Published - eBooks Just Published is a blog that tells of an eBook each day. This link goes specifically to those eBooks that are free.
Baen Free Library - A bunch of free science fiction novels, all in nice happy LRF format. Perfect.

Should you buy an E-Ink Reader?

Here's my recommendation; If you think you'll be at all interested in getting one, you'll love it.

Just make sure you're okay with either paying for books or reading free books. Know that there are TONS of free books out there.

5 Million Keypresses

This milestone really snuck up on me.

"timothy" the Sage

Just as a Recap, this is a photo from a previous story I ran. The wise sage "timothy" spake of this photo.



Here are timothy's musings;

timothy said...
it's easier to deny their existence than to acknowledge that they're real! look carefully at the palm trees they are not the same. we are being visited. make no mistake about it you fools. everyone wants evidence and when you show then the evidence they want to dismiss it. fools wake up!

timothy said...
The scriptures say that "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the end days." In the days of Noah the Nephelim were on the earth. Well, they're back!

timothy said...
If you really want to know for sure then take a camera down to Haiti and come back with your own footage. you'll be convinced but you'll still have to contend with those who choose to remain ignorant. What is it? Are you afraid to acknowledge there's superior intelligence out in the celestials? our very denial of them shows the inferiority of our intellects. Wake up!

timothy said...
In the 2Peter is says about the last days "bold and arrogant they're not afraid to slander celestial beings" You would believe they're talking about angels, but read on and it says "yet angels which are more mighty would dare not bring such accusations against such beings in the sight of God." The scriptures acknowledge the existence of celestial beings! WAKE UP YOU HUMAN FOOLS!

timothy said...
There were three things that took place in the days of Noah. 1.The earth was about to go through a dramatic transformation. Global warming ring a bell? 2.The people's attitudes were eat drink and be marry for tomorrow we die. Our current hedonistic society of excess ring a bell? 3.The Nephelim (Sons of God) were on the earth messing with creation. UFO's ring a bell yet? PEOPLE CLAIMING THEY'VE BEEN ABDUCTED AND THAT THEY'RE CREATING A HYBRID RACE. you've heard it all on the programs. WAKE UP YOU HUMAN FOOLS!

timothy said...
TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT THE PLANET CERES! THEY'RE HERE!

timothy said...
THE TENTH PLANET THE SAMARIAN TABLETS SPOKE ABOUT

timothy said...
DENYING THEY'RE EXISTENCE ISN'T GOING TO PREVENT THEIR COMING HERE. AS YOU CAN ALREADY SEE!

Classic madman. It starts off mildly weird, then escalates to raving mad. Unfortunately, all attempts to identify this "timothy" have failed.

I'm sure there are also some logical arguments against it, but who wants to wrestle a pig in mud?

It Finally Happened! OLPC Ad!

It happened! It finally happened!



The One Laptop per Child $100 dollar but actually $200 dollar PC is available for purchase! Unfortunately, as you need to buy two just to get one (you're donating one), it's not very cost effective as far as "cheap pc" goes. But it still has it's charm.

How long has it been in the making? Three years? It's just a shame that I kind of lost interest in that project maybe a year ago. As it turns out, all I really wanted was an e-ink ebook reader.

On the Subject of Wearing Down Xbox 360's

I was combing my favorite Civilization focused Website when I came across this topic title; A warning for 360 Owners.

I own an Xbox 360, so of course I clicked on it. Apparently Civilization Revolution is hard on the Xbox 360 disc drive. But that's not even the best part.

The thread poster has "killed" fifteen Xbox 360's. Fifteen? I didn't even know you could kill one!

Even with counting the "Red Ring of Death" as killing an Xbox 360, I've only "killed" one. So you can see why fifteen is outrageous.

And yet, more people chimed in and said they've "killed" multiple Xboxes, more than just one. So I'm astounded. I guess I'm not really much of a gamer anymore.

"Create Massive Abundance" Funny Google Ads Ad

And they're not talking about poop.

Coffin Kills Widow

While technically not ironic, it's amusing.

Police say a woman has died on the way to a cemetery when a traffic accident hurled her husband's coffin against the back of her neck.

From The Columbian, who obviously got it from somewhere else.

Google Ads on My Blog Give Up

Hah, am I the only person who has noticed that the Google Ads between posts no longer show actual links, but instead just search bars? I think that's Google giving up. I am now too weird to even have relevant Adsense ads.

The Number "e," Gutenburg's weirdest book

I have found what promises to be Gutenburg's weirdest book, as promised by the headline.

So I saw a book under the title, "The Number 'e'". I thought to myself, "It's probably some sort of weird science fiction novel," as it does have a surreal title.

Imagine my surprise to open it up and realize it's actually the mathematical constant "e" to 100,000 places. But as the ebook itself mentions, "The digits have been checked by them but they welcome others to check them as well. Even so, as noted above, neither we nor they guarantee the accuracy of these digits."

To add some more length to this post, note how it's ebook number 127. So this is one of the first books that Gutenburg deigned worthy to type out.

And just for the heck of it, here's the letter e to such and so many places

2.71828182845904523536028747135266249775724709369995957496696762772407663035354759457138217852516642742746639193200305992181741359662904357290033429526059563073813232862794349076323382988075319525101901157383418793070215408914993488416750924476146066808226480016847741185374234544243710753907774499206955170276183860626133138458300075204493382656029760673711320070932870912744374704723069697720931014169283681902551510865746377211125238978442505695369677078544996996794686445490

There's a lot more where that came from.

No Reunion for Smashing Pumpkins... For About 30 Years

Yes, I will be blatantly predicting the future.

So, the Smashing Pumpkins said they will never have the original lineup back together.

I'm here to say that unless one of them dies, they will do it within the next 30 years.

And you want to know why? 30 years is a long time. There's no way you can predict what will happen 30 years from now. Hate a guy? He might save your daughter. What then!?

All I know is that every band ever reunites later on. Well, so long as none of them die. But even that won't stop some bands some of the time. So yeah, just try to defy fate Smashing Pumpkins, but Oedipus lost and so will you.

Ohio Students Falsely Decontaminated, Connor Smith Okay

So I saw this story come in on the wire, "False alarm means decontamination of Ohio students" and I immediately thought of parallel universe Connor Smith.

That's right, there's a Connor Smith. Except he's not in a parallel universe, he's just a sophomore at Ohio State.

So anyways, I just read that headline, and I instantly wondered if Connor Smith was okay. As it turns out, the article was about a high school, which naturally precluded Connor.

But isn't it weird that now I'm starting to feel concern and worry over this doppelganger? I'm a bit concerned for when he finally makes the NFL draft and when he joins a team. Will he have a good career? Will he be the best offensive tackle there ever was? And to a much lesser extent, when will my friends figure this out and give me crap about it?

And to think, this all happened because I Google'd "Connor Smith" and he won.

Vietnam to Ban Something Else Moderately Funny

Remember when Vietnam wanted to ban hamsters? Well apparently banning random things is a recurring joke for Vietnam.

Now they're getting rid of small chested drivers. Along with a bunch of other groups of people that make a bit more sense.

Again, like banning the hamsters, this is something that can kinda maybe be justified on paper, but in real life is somewhat ridiculous.

Here's the link to the Article if you want facts, details, or journalism.

The Craziest E-mail I've Ever Gotten

This email was sent by Oregon Trail. You can disable emails here.
---
Thanks for using Oregon Trail. We are excited to announce that, as of next week, Oregon Trail's name and functionality will be changed to SpeedDate. Data entered into the original app won't be used anymore. Soon you'll be able to try SpeedDate, the fastest way to meet new people, so stay tuned!
Thanks,
Oregon Trail

P.S. If you want to opt-out of this app, instructions can be found here.

I especially like the part about the absurd name and functionality change.

Falsified Steve Jobs Heart Attack Story Writer's Motive Still Remain Unknown

According to the report, "The fake Internet report posted to CNN's iReport site earlier this month claiming Apple CEO Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack was posted by a teenager who doesn't appear to have posted it to manipulate the company's stock price, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday."

Unfortunately, "Citing 'people with knowledge of the matter,' the report said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is still looking into the motives of the unnamed 18-year old..."

When asked for comment, Connor Smith said, "It's clearly obvious this kid did it for attention. Furthermore, by posting this story you've only given this kid even more attention. I think the only reasonable solution is to shun this kid."

"And take away his iPod."

Googling "Something For Nothing"

What? Not Googling myself anymore?

So I just got the crazy idea to google "Something For Nothing," and write a blog post about what turns up. I figure, such a common yet bizarre phrase should lead to some bizarre stuff.

The first search result is a sober forum discussion on whether or not something about an iPhone. It really doesn't matter what. Although I did find a funny quote.

Sorry nutcake, but I will refer to being a long term customer if I want to. If you find it irrelevant, than don't refer to long term customers in your posts. However I do find it relevant and I will refer to it whether or not it bother you.

Deal with it. You can ignore me if you'd like.

-bubbaluv

If it doesn't make sense, I'm with you. It doesn't even really make sense in context.

The next is a post on a blog that leads to some artist's page.

Turns out, it's a whole page devoted to artists who make things out of natural things, "something from nothing." Not literally something from nothing, but something nonetheless.

Still, it's all a little bit "ho hum."

Now for the golden gem, this blog post from a blog;

TUESDAY, MAY 23, 2006

Someting out of Nothing
I have wrighters block!!! I have been looking at my computer trying to put words on the screen and noting, not a sentence, not a word, not a syllable! It is horrible!!! I'm going to have a traumatic experience!!! I may need therapy!!! How do you all do it??? It is like there is a force field is between me and my computer screen. "Jean-Luc Picard what have you done to me?" The normal event is that I give the computer a sentence or two, and it just grows from there. It is like the idea takes route on the screen. Then all the sudden 'IT'S ALIVE'. The computer is like cow shit, and the words are a plant. I may start it but it grows on its own. And now noting, zilch, zip, nada! My ground has been tainted! It is the day after!!! Noting can grow and what is still alive is going to be horribly mutated. There is no love between me and my computer; I have lost that loving felling.

But I will Survive!!! And I will come back!! And I will gain the Respect of my fellow bloggers!!!!

-DRAGON

RAMBLINGS FROM AN ADHD, DYSLEXIC. could just be the hot new blog of the time period. I think you should check it out.

And once again, a Google search gets you exactly what you weren't expecting, but were all too happy to find.

What my Computer Desktop Looks Like

Your desktop says a lot about what kind of person you are, all your hopes and dreams, about what makes you go on another day in this funny thing we call life.

Yet, we are rarely able to glimpse at other people's desktops.

So look at this photo and ponder, "Just what do all my friend's desktops look like?"

Madden Curse Strikes Connor

No, I'm not talking about the Madden curse where the cover athlete has a mediocre season.

Come on, me, a cover athlete?

I'm talking about the alternate curse that makes you think it's next year already. I'm become so used to "Madden 09" that I keep having to stop and think about what year it is.

Just a reminder, it's 2008 this year.

Man convicted of murdering couple thrown off yacht

At least, that's the headline for A Guardian article with the most misleading name ever.

Well, I suppose that if you reread it, you can tell it's the couple that was thrown off the yacht. And you can certainly tell by the contents of the article. But being the person I am, my first thought was that this murderer was thrown off the yacht.

The actual article itself is boring as far as homicide reports go. It's just the headline that was interesting.

"The actual article itself is boring as far as homicide reports go." Wow, I'm beginning to think there's something wrong with me.

I blame society.

It's Over For a While

I'm taking a break.

I'll be back later.

Comcast to Create "Excessive Use" Bandwith Limit

An Official Announcement by Comcast;

Dear Comcast High-Speed Internet Customer,

We appreciate your business and strive to provide you with the best online experience possible. One of the ways we do this is through our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). The AUP outlines acceptable use of our service as well as steps we take to protect our customers from things that can negatively impact their experience online. This policy has been in place for many years and we update it periodically to keep it current with our customers' use of our service.

On October 1, 2008, we will post an updated AUP that will go into effect at that time.

In the updated AUP, we clarify that monthly data (or bandwidth) usage of more than 250 Gigabytes (GB) is the specific threshold that defines excessive use of our service. We have an excessive use policy because a fraction of one percent of our customers use such a disproportionate amount of bandwidth every month that they may degrade the online experience of other customers.

250 GB/month is an extremely large amount of bandwidth and it's very likely that your monthly data usage doesn't even come close to that amount. In fact, the threshold is approximately 100 times greater than the typical or median residential customer usage, which is 2 to 3 GB/month. To put it in perspective, to reach 250 GB of data usage in one month a customer would have to do any one of the following:

* Send more than 50 million plain text emails (at 5 KB/email);
* Download 62,500 songs (at 4 MB/song); or
* Download 125 standard definition movies (at 2 GB/movie).

And online gamers should know that even the heaviest multi- or single-player gaming activity would not typically come close to this threshold over the course of a month.

In addition to modifying the excessive use policy, the updated AUP contains other clarifications of terms concerning reporting violations, newsgroups, and network management. To read some helpful FAQs, please visit http://help.comcast.net/content/faq/Frequently-Asked-Questions-about-Excessive-Use.

Thank you again for choosing Comcast as your high-speed Internet provider.

If you don't have the patience to read all that, just know that Comcast will soon be capping service at 250 gb of bandwidth a month.

As they try to make clear, this is not to mess with the average customer. This is the mess with the "fraction of one percent of our customers [who] use such a disproportionate amount of bandwidth."

In other words, heavy torrent users.

Curse You Verizon Wireless, Foiled Again!

As none of you know, I recently got a cell phone. And as even less of you would know, it's on the Verizon Wireless network.

No, I will not post my phone number on the internet like a total idiot.

Anyways, I thought I could get a custom ringtone onto my phone, thus circumventing the need to pay money to Verizon to get a crappy non-obscure ringtone.

Apparently Verizon was to have the last laugh on this one.

So it would seem that while you can download "sounds" and "music" to your SD card, you cannot download "Ringtones."

Quite frankly, I don't see the different between "Sounds," "Music," and "Ringtones." But Verizon Wireless sees it.

So now I'm probably going to have to settle with buying some sort of ringtone.

Then again, Standard Ringtone 6 isn't all that bad...

It Happens Again!

So I log on to Google Analytics, thinking that I'll see just another number between 20 and 30.



Nope. 466 visits. Yes, I was floored.

This is only rivaled with that one time I got 50 or so visits that one time. It was exciting then. Same now.

Now, I just have to figure out what did it...

Spore Wins, Just Not How you Thought

Spore has been pegged as a massive failure ever since its release.

However, this little review on Sparknotes proves a point; that the common man will find Spore to be a fun game.

So who knows.

Firefox Unleashes "Private Browsing Mode"; But Google's Chrome Already Beat it

I found an announcement dated for today that Firefox is adding a private browsing feature.

Coincedentially, I'm sure, Google's browser Chrome was unleashed in beta a while ago and has a private mode too.

As far as I know, Internet Explorer does not have such a mode. But since I've switched to Chrome for most normal browsing, that's not really an issue.

Link Chain;
Monkey Bites -> Me

A Word we Need

From Futility Closet;

Mamihlapinatapais, from the Yaghan language of Tierra del Fuego, is considered the world's most succinct word — and the hardest to translate.

It means "a look shared by two people, each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but that neither one wants to start."

You might laugh at sheer nuance of the word, but it happens.

That's why we need a word for it in English. That way, when it happens we can mention the word, and we'd both laugh, and everything would be okay.

Initial Impression of Google Chrome

To start off, Google's new browserChrome is doing alright. I really like the look of the browser. So far, whole it's bear bones, it's getting the job done.

...Until I open something with flash. I tried opening Pandora Internet Radio, and Chrome spectacularly crashes. I tried it again, and another horrible crash.

But, on the bright side, it did figure out that Chrome closed unintentionally and offered to direct me back to Pandora.

Additionally, Chrome hates flash games.

As I'm coming from an Internet Explorer background, which handles flash very well, this is a giant disappointment. That's the thing that keeps me from using Chrome full time.

For now, I think I'll try using Internet Explorer for Pandora, and Chrome for everything non-flash.

Sheep Everywhere Win a Battle as "Domestic Sheep" is the Wikipedia Article of the Day

As few of you know, one of my favorite animals is the common sheep. So that's why I'm excited that today's Wikipedia article of the day is sheep.

My Thoughts on the PC Gamer's Bill of Rights

So if you haven't heard by now, those crazy folks up there at Stardock and Gas Powered games came up with a PC gamer's bill of rights.

1. Gamers shall have the right to return games that don't work with their computers for a full refund.


2. Gamers shall have the right to demand that games be released in a finished state.


3. Gamers shall have the right to expect meaningful updates after a game's release.


4. Gamers shall have the right to demand that download managers and updaters not force themselves to run or be forced to load in order to play a game.


5. Gamers shall have the right to expect that the minimum requirements for a game will mean that the game will adequately play on that computer.


6. Gamers shall have the right to expect that games won't install hidden drivers or other potentially harmful software without their express consent.


7. Gamers shall have the right to re-download the latest versions of the games they own at any time.


8. Gamers shall have the right to not be treated as potential criminals by developers or publishers.


9. Gamers shall have the right to demand that a single-player game not force them to be connected to the Internet every time they wish to play.


10. Gamers shall have the right that games which are installed to the hard drive shall not require a CD/DVD to remain in the drive to play.

Now, as a gesture, I can appreciate this. However, it's lacking the necessary details to make this immediately applicable.

Additionally, some of these list items sound more like demands than an actual bill of rights. Notably, 1 and 3.

The first one, the return for a refund one, sounds a little harsh. Granted, it's never fun to buy a game and realize it doesn't work. However, does that really need to be prevented by offering a refund? Why not just make a free program that will test to see if the game will run?

The third one, the meaningful update one, also gets me. So long as the game works, why should the consumer be entitled to more content? Making that content also distracts from other potential games or sequels that the company might be making. The consumer knew what they were getting when they bought the game, right?

Well, maybe that didn't. Having looked at the backs of many PC games, they're all somewhat misleading as to how much fun you'll have while playing the game. Perhaps instead of the demand for more content, the consumer should be protected against false advertising?

The fifth one, the minimum system requirements one, could be modified. It could require companies to post the absolute minimum to run the program, like they've been doing, along with the so called for adequate requirements. That way, there's no loss of important information, and one no longer has to guess whether it's a minimum or a suggested.

Again, while I appreciate the gesture of this, I think it needs a lot more refinement before it's finalized.

Link Chain;
Edge Online -> CRAVE -> Me

Things to do Before Schools Starts Again;

Cry your heart out.

Image unwittingly donated by kakisky. Thanks!

Wowio is DEAD to me

That whole "going global" thing didn't have me scared. But it should have.

So I come back to Wowio, hearing that comics are now pay to download. That's okay, I don't read too many comics.

But then I learned now that normal books are now pay to download as well.

COME ON, WOWIO! THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT!

Maybe someday I'll come around and see if I can somehow stand to read books online. But for now, Wowio is just dead to me.

The Rich Jerk says...

Man, who knew there were actually funny Google Ads?

The Problem With Average Based Rating Systems

Take a look at this picture;
People all voted either 5's or 1's. But the average is 3 stars.

That average doesn't show that half the people either loved it or hated it. They're more polarized than a battery!

Bitter Celtic Fans disgust me!!, if you wanted to see the article. The ratings have probably changed, though.

Take-Two Finally Safe from EA

EA, the tireless gaming giant, was seeking to envelope Take-Two Interactive and digest it. However, they recently announced that this action would no longer benefit them enough.

However, upon actually reading the article, it says they stopped because they wouldn't get the profits from the holiday season. It says little to nothing about them trying again next year.

Take-Two is famous for currently owning the Civilization franchise which I am a fan of and various sports titles. At one point, they were the only viable competitor to EA's sports games.

Link Chain;
Bloomberg -> Civilization Fanatics -> Me

Gone to Chicago

Back in 2 weeks.

May post in the meantime.

So I do one post about Surf Music, and now Google ads think my blog's all about surf music. Oh well.

Zomg! A Cat has Infiltrated!

Weirdness - Motivational Poster

Where to Find Free Surf Music Online

First let it be know that by "Surf Music," I am referring to the instrumental guitar-laden surf music of yonder glory days or the modern day equivalent of it. Sorry, no beach boys here.

"Let's Go Classics" by Takeshi Terauchi

Who is Takeshi Terauchi? He's a very good Japanese surf guitarist.

This album consists of covers of classical pieces, but done in a surf style.

Additionally, since this album and artist is so obscure, you've probably never heard of them before. Which is good.

WFMU has another Takeshi Terauchi album, This is Terauchi Bushi, which consists of orginal work of surf music bit with a bit of a Japanese twist at times.

Surf Guitar 101 Compilations

Surf Guitar 101 is one of the only pages you get when you Google search for "surf guitar." Surf Guitar 101 has a busy forum that occasionally collects surf guitar pieces from various members with the intent to combine them into one larger compilation for that year. So far, there have been three.



Surf Guitar 101 MP3 Compilation 2005





Surf Guitar 101 MP3 Compilation 2006




Surf Guitar 101 MP3 Compilation 2007

Various Internet Archive Surf Pieces

Surfing and Civilization - "Dissertation regarding the influence of surfing on Western civilization as expressed via guitar, organ, bass and drums."¹ In actuality, a moderately long catchy bit of surf music.




Surf Coasters Live at Double Down Saloon - The surf coasters are a modern day surf band and they're putting out some good songs. Have a listen to their latest live show on The Internet Archive.

"Play Some Surf Guitar" by Monsters from Mars - Surf music with a bit of a kick to it.

Mermen Live at Hard Rock Cafe - The Mermen are a modern day band that plays music vaguely reminiscent of surf msuic. While it's not exactly surf, you might find it to your tastes.

Youtube

Youtube works wonders in general for listening to music for free online, and it works those same wonders for popular surf music. Keep in mind that some of the more obscure things you might be looking for are probably not on Youtube.


"Wipeout" - The Ventures


"Pipeline" - The Chantay's


"Misirlou" - Dick Dale & The Del Tones

Try searching for others as there's plenty more where that came from.

Pandora.com

http://www.pandora.com/ is a free online radio station where you given an initial suggestion of what you like, and then it tries to find similar music. I've found that if you use "The Ventures" as an initial artist, you'll be exposed to all sorts of older surf music.

Last.fm

http://www.last.fm/ is a site where you can find and listen to more obscure songs than Youtube will let you. For example, if you hear something you like on the above mentioned Pandora.com but it's not on Yotube, perhaps it will be on Last.fm.

Keep in mind that there is a limit to how many free songs you can hear in a day, so Youtube is preferable in that regard.

Why Gnol Will Not be a "Wikipedia Killer"

Perhaps you've heard about the hot new Google product in beta. What happens is you make your own little page about something in which you are the expert in. It's like Wikipedia, but different in that there are authors and they're encouraged to take credit for their work. Additionally, they can add ads to their Knols if they want, effectively monetizing them.

Most people have speculated that Google created Knol to compete with with Wikipedia, but according to Wikipedia, "We welcome the Google Knol initiative. The more good free content, the better for the world."

And that's more like the stance I want to take.

First of all, Knol will end up being much different from Wikipedia. Wikipedia emphasizes anonymous non-paid contribution and professionalism, whereas Knol emphasizes profit-seeking¹ competition and amateurism.

Not that there's anything wrong with profit-seeking competition and amateurism, but it's very different from non-paid cooperation. So I'm predicting their articles will be very different.

Mostly in tone. A Wikipedia article strives for and is endlessly revised to achieve that perfect "Encyclopedia Voice." Conversly, a Knol will be either be in a personal voice or a semi-professional voice. There's nothing inherently bad about either, but they will be different and offer a different feeling to the reader.

Knols would have the liberty to be written about certain things that Wikipedia deems obscure. On Wikipedia, articles have to be on something well known, as arbitrarily defined by the moderators. Articles deemed to be about something relatively unknown would therefore be deleted. While this policy has its merits, it also leaves a handful of unhappy Wikipedia users that want to write about something but can't. Such people would be more than happy to switch to Knol where all content is allowed so long as it isn't ripped off or illegal.

And because a Wikipedia article and a Knol article for a topic will end up being so different, they will probably used to complement each other rather than replace each other.

So I don't see a future where Knol and Wikipedia ruthlessly compete for readers in the future. I see a lax future where both Wikipedia pages and Knol pages are used in concert.

1; I'm sure we can all agree that eventually a large portion of Knol will have ads on them. An Adsense account is not particularly hard to create. Additionally, a quick search around the internet will reveal that most of it has ads. This isn't necessarily a bad, because the ads on a Knol would be on the side and semi-relevant.

Nintendo Loses in Patent Skirmish

Apparently Nintendo was in a patent lawsuit again "Anascape" and apparently they managed to lose.

Basically, this means that the happy analog sticks on the Gamecube controllers and the classic controllers are in patent violation, and can no longer be sold unless Nintendo does something.

Granted, there's no way this will mean no more Gamecube or classic controllers forever. But it might lead to a temporary setback. I'm thinking a few months.

Still though, "Anascape"? That's two letters from "Analescape."

Slashdot
Slashdot's link

Facebook Unveils Site Redesign... And it Doesn't Work With IE6... Or IE7

So I tried upgrading to the new Facebook, thinking it would be cooler and all.

Then I get this error message;


Apparently Facebook's new site doesn't work with IE6. However, they reassure me IE6 compatibility will be made "soon."

But wait! It gets better!

So I click on the Internet Explorer upgrade link, and it takes me to this page;

"you are using Internet Explorer 7"

Apparently Facebook has more problems than it thought or Microsoft's website is lying to me.

EDIT: It seems that NEW Facebook has finally started working on Internet Explorer 7. No word yet on if it works for IE6 or not.

Charles Dicken's Great Expectations - Motivational Poster

Google Maps Adds Walking Directions

Now you can walk to destinations.

But my source makes it sound like it forces you to walk on sidewalks only. Great.

Unsubstantiated Rock Band 2 Rumor

In my last post I complained about why there were no Rock Band 1 tracks in Rock Band 2.

According to a rumor from Kotaku, all the tracks from Rock Band 1 would be included in Rock Band 2.

Now, as crazy as this sounds, especially when you consider Rock Band is published by EA, you have to figure that Harmonix is a company that sort of loves its customers. Heck, they created Guitar Hero just to give the common man an idea of what it's like to be in a band.

Plus, they made bucketloads of money on the last one.

Plus, they make a killing with perephiral sales. And who buys those? New players. So if they sweeten the deal that much more, then they might make more perephireal sales.

Of course, there are just reasons why this makes sense, not reason why they're actually doing it.

Need I repeat this is merely a rumor?

Rock Band 2 Track List

So I got this list from Ultimate Guitar who in turn got it from Kotaku. I've still had more interesting link chains.

01. AC/DC "Let There Be Rock" 1970s
02. AFI "Girl's Gone Grey" 2000's
03. Alanis Morissette "You Oughta Know" 1990's
04. Alice In Chains "Man in the Box" 1990's
05. Allman Brothers "Ramblin' Man" 1970's
06. Avenged Sevenfold "Almost Easy" 2000's
07. Bad Company "Shooting Star" 1970's
08. Beastie Boys "So Whatcha Want" 1990's
09. Beck "E-Pro" 2000's
10. Bikini Kill "Rebel Girl" 1990's
11. I" 1980's
12. Blondie "One Way or Another" 1970's
13. Bob Dylan "Tangled Up in Blue" 1970's
14. Bon Jovi "Livin' on a Prayer" 1980's
15. Cheap Trick "Hello There" 1970's
16. Devo "Uncontrollable Urge" 1980's
17. "Feel the Pain" 1990's
18. Disturbed "Down with the Sickness" 2000's
19. Dream Theater "Panic Attack" 2000's
20. Duran Duran "Hungry Like the Wolf" 1980's
21. Elvis Costello "Pump It Up" 1970's
22. Fleetwood Mac "Go Your Own Way" 1970's
23. Foo Fighters "Everlong" 1990's
24. Guns N' Roses "Shackler's Revenge" 2000's
25. Interpol "PDA" 2000's
26. Jane's Addiction "Mountain Song" 1980's
27. Jethro Tull "Aqualung" 1970's
28. Jimmy Eat World "The Middle" 2000's
29. Joan Jett "Bad Reputation" 1980's
30. Journey "Anyway You Want It" 1970's
31. Judas Priest "Painkiller" 1990's
32. Kansas "Carry On Wayward Son" 1970's
33. L7 "Pretend We're Dead" 1990's
34. Lacuna Coil "Our Truth" 2000's
35. Linkin Park "One Step Closer" 2000's
36. Lit "My Own Worst Enemy" 1990's
37. Lush "De-Luxe" 1990's
38. Mastodon "Colony of Birchmen" 2000's
39. Megadeth "Peace Sells" 1980's
40. Metallica "Battery" 1980's
41. Mighty Mighty Bosstones "Where'd You Go" 1990's
42. Modest Mouse "Float On" 2000's
43. Motorhead "Ace of Spades" 1980's
44. Nirvana "Drain You" 1990's
45. Norman Greenbaum "Spirit in the Sky" 1960's
46. Panic At The Disco "Nine in the Afternoon" 2000's
47. Paramore "That's What You Get" 2000's
48. Pearl Jam "Alive" 1990's
49. Presidents Of The Usa "Lump" 1990's
50. Rage Against The Machine "Testify" 1990's
51. Ratt "Round & Round" 1980's
52. Red Hot Chili Peppers "Give it Away" 1990's
53. Rise Against "Give it All" 2000's
54. Rush "The Trees" 1970's
55. Silversun Pickups "Lazy Eye" 2000's
56. Smashing Pumpkins "Today" 1990's
57. Social Distortion "I Was Wrong" 1990's
58. Sonic Youth "Teenage Riot" 1980's
59. Soundgarden "Spoonman" 1990's
60. Squeeze "Cool for Cats" 1970's
61. Steely Dan "Bodhitsattva" 1970's
62. Steve Miller Band "Rock'n Me" 1970's
63. Survivor "Eye of the Tiger" 1980's
64. System Of A Down "Chop Suey" 2000's
65. Talking Heads "Psycho Killer" 1970's
66. Tenacious D "Master Exploder" 2000's
67. Testament "Souls of Black" 1990's
68. The Donnas "New Kid in School" 2000's
69. The Go-Go's "We Got the Beat" 1980's
70. The Grateful Dead "Alabama Getaway" 1980's
71. The Guess Who "American Woman" 1970's
72. The Muffs "Kids in America" 1990's
73. The Offspring "Come Out & Play (Keep 'em Separated)" 1990's
74. The Replacements "Alex Chilton" 1980's
75. The Who "Pinball Wizard" 1960's
76. Abnormality "Visions" 2000's
77. Anarchy Club "Get Clean" 2000's
78. Bang Camaro "Night Lies" 2000's
79. Breaking Wheel "Shoulder to the Plow" 2000's
80. The Libyans "Neighborhood" 2000's
81. The Main Drag "A Jagged Gorgeous Winter" 2000's
82. Speck "Conventional Lover" 2000's
83. The Sterns "Supreme Girl" 2000's
84. That Handsome Devil "Rob the Prez-O-Dent" 2000's

Personally, there doesn't seem to be that much good stuff. But I have faith in Harmonix to not completely suck when picking songs. Besides, there are plenty of awesome songs yet to pick that weren't in Rock Band or any guitar hero.

Though what really bugs me is why can't they add in tracks that were in Rock Band 1 if there's extra space? I think the 84 song list is more a limit due to work than to memory.

Do You Believe There Are Monsters Under Your Bed or In Your Closet?

Here's a great example of voluntary response bias.

Voluntary response bias is when you let people answer a survey or poll, and the results thusly become skewed because only people who really care about it will answer.

I asked Yahoo Answers if people believe if there were monsters under their bed.

All of the 3 people responded in the affirmative. Using this survey, I could (unreasonably) conclude that 100% of people on Yahoo Answers believe there is a monster under their bed.

Answer Thread

Conversation With A Spambot

[21:10:14] korypage24: lmitrlrlpvGotta sec shingoiruka?ocpexnhljybcimyxndho

[21:10:21] Jiggly29642000: ...No?

[21:10:24] korypage24: cxyrqsorry i'm new to this whole "IM" thing lol, wasnt sure if i had the right personjzpio

[21:10:38] jiggly29642000: My name is "Jiggly29642000."

[21:10:47] korypage24: udmfndo u remember me?mviky

[21:10:53] jiggly29642000: Do you remember me?

[21:10:59] korypage24: pdwrpit's me Morganhefnk

[21:11:16] jiggly29642000: Morgan, eh?

[21:11:19] korypage24: wnlnddo u remember me?nhnyk

[21:11:28] jiggly29642000: You're Morgan, right?

[21:11:29] korypage24: spjtdit's me Alexandriaqfrpf

[21:11:35] jiggly29642000: Alexandria, eh?

[21:11:39] korypage24: dbkbqhey R U free any time this week? i'm kinda lonley in this new town, maybe we can meet up ;)rrqwobuqfq

[21:11:55] jiggly29642000: Well, seeing as how you're so paranoid you have two names... Then no.

[21:11:58] korypage24: acvyuTo remove your ID please follow the link http://www.yremoveyourid.com ajtvh

[21:12:07] jiggly29642000: That doesn't even make any sense.

[21:12:08] korypage24: qcoxmcheck out my pic http://www.a%64ul%74%68%6f%6fk%2du%70s.%6e%65%74 do u think i'm cute, pgbpi

[21:12:36] jiggly29642000: No, I think you're ugly.

[21:12:46] korypage24: vgloei just signed up for this gr8 singles site, check out my profile http://www.%61%64u%6c%74h%6fok%2d%75%70%73.%6eet vryhq

[21:12:58] jiggly29642000: What if I told you I was married?

[21:13:05] korypage24: xfvndTo remove your ID please follow the link http://www.yremoveyourid.com jqdrk

[21:13:12] jiggly29642000: Uh, you already told me this...

[21:13:14] korypage24: lpmjzi just signed up for this gr8 singles site, check out my profile http://www.%61%64ul%74%68%6fok-u%70%73%2e%6e%65t vocxi

[21:13:22] jiggly29642000: Wow, repeating fail.

[21:13:31] korypage24: iskrxTo remove your ID please follow the link http://www.yremoveyourid.com juvrc

Here's a thought;

If you turn off your voice activated computer, can you turn it back on using your voice?

Slightly More than 4 Million Keypresses

It's weird, I didn't jump to update this as I used to do.

Yet another sort of milestone in my life.

"An sql error occurred while fetching this page. Please contact an administrator if this problem persists."

Gosh dang it, what if I am the administrator!?

Being a Blogger is Tough Work

PS3 Dualshock JUST released in Britian

Hah, those poor suckers.

Except not really, because it's not that great of a product.

Sony's new Dualshock controller for PS3 launches in Europe today. The controller finally brings vibration - left out of the original PS3 pads for legal rather than design reasons - back to the Playstation. Rumble is subtly effective, especially on racing games, and is one of those features that you tend to miss when not there. So today's release has got to be good news for PS3 owners right? Not quite. The main problem is the price - the controller costs 40 quid. That's around 10 more than the original Sixaxis PS3 controller and the 360's pad. Reviews suggest the new controller is fine, but is it worth 40 pounds? Heck, is any pad? Any PS3 owners here planning to get one?
- Greg Howson

In the end, I think the British are winning. They're the ones who got Civilization Revolution a month early.

Even though the DS version comes out at the same time everywhere, I'm still a bit miffed.

Wowio is "Going Global"

I'm not quite sure what the heck this means. I haven't heard anything about this before.

Still, it'll be entertaining to see what happens in the end.

As many of you might know, Wowio is (or was) a place to get free books off the internet legally.

Personally, I took a break from using Wowio because I lost the time for books. But it's not a bad site at all.

How Can You Tell if Someone's a Communist?

Ah, this one's a good one.

So I asked,

How Can You Tell if Someone's a Communist?

Are there certain tells that are characteristic of communists?

Do they have some sort of prominent feature?

Is there some sort of a radar you can buy?

Keep in mind at all times I was asking this jokingly, while all the time not expecting serious answers.

The best (4 non-me votes) poster said,

Just look in there I and ask if they love Huu Wong Song's ideas, or whatever that guy's name is from North Korea

I have no idea what the poor chap was trying to say.

"AngryCat" told me,

They don't have horns and hoofs.
The communism doesn't affect your appearence or manners. It's just a set of ideas that a person keeps in his/her head. There is no radar to find out it.

Yes, I know that, but I'm waiting for the person who does believe that communists have hooves and there's special communist radar.

Then this hippie lady said,

everyones a communist in one way or another(called their own set of values)

Which of course pissed off this person,

To the person below me, everyone is not a communist, as communism is a specific set of values.

You will know that they are a communist from speaking with them.

If they say that they are interested in revolution, world unity, class
conflict, and words like proletariat and bourgeisie, it is pretty clear they are a Communist.

Then this clever character said,

Are you trying to find communists or hide your own convictions?

In some American states even the word 'communism' gets the public running to the Republican ballot box.

Touche, man, touche!

Finally, here's my favorite answer,

So sorry you missed the millenium. We are at this present time, in the 21st century in the year 2008. The idea of Communism is a tired one, primarily because the Berlin Wall and thus Communism fell almost 20 years ago!!! You are a quaint relic of a bygone era. You should do one of two things. Either put yourself up for sale at a museum for antiques, or go back to sleep.

This is Yahoo Answers at its finest, people.

Brave Connor's Thoughts FC Finally Lose

Today breaks my 25 day streak of having at least 30 visitors a day.

Most of you new visitors are coming to my various motivational posters I submitted to StumbleUpon.

It all started with my Skepticism motivational poster, which was a major hit.

To the future!

The Connor Smith FastQuick Comedy Show Episode 47

"Those British..."

Rock Band 2 Implied

Rock Band 2 has been implied by a survey about Rock Band 2.

As the survey asks, which version of the box would you prefer?

What bothers me, though, is what could they offer with a sequel?

It can't really be more songs, as they already have more than a fair amount availible online already.

MarketLeap Link Popularity Checker

Do you want to check out how popular a (or your) website is?

This handy website looks at some magical number, and compares it to many different comparison domains.

According to it, I'm at the bottom stage. Oh well, the pains of being small.

Ugh, remember when I said I'd finish all the Yahoo Answers stuff?

I think I kinda ran out of steam. I'll finish them later.

...Didn't know they'd be so much work.

Humans Versus Nature; Who Wins?

In continuation of all this Yahoo Answers hijinx...

So, I asked,

Everyone always seems to think that humans are stealing the world's natural resources and ruining the environment.

But on the other hand, natural diasters seem to put humanity in its place.

So who's winning?

Thankfully, I got some real answers this time.

One person said,

Humans are part of Nature. We can only win what Nature allow us to win

What a lame answer. That's not what I wanted at all. Philosophical and trite, but sure as heck not fun.

Another person says,

Depends on what you mean by winning.

Ultimately nature will become so far out of balance that humanity, and possibly everything else living on the planet is destroyed...or at least greatly diminished...whether there will be a liveable planet after that remains to be seen.

First, I'd say you get to create your own definition of winning. I'm asking you for your thoughts.

Next, they bring in the idea of Mutually Assured Destruction. While this too is a nice and philosophical answer, I'm still waiting for someone to interpret this as a war or something wacky like that.

Then this person said,

Nature has always been present on Earth and always will be. Humans have existed on this planet for a relatively early period of time, so no matter what we do or do not do, nature will continue to 'react' .. I guess you could say .. to what's going on around the planet. This doesn't necessarily mean what humans are doing but anything .. for example if an asteroid hits the Earth what's going to happen?

At this point in time, humans are using and abusing the nature's resources, and nature is reacting to what we're doing. So I wouldn't stay it's putting 'humanity in its place' but rather, we're facing the consequences and realizing what we're doing to the planet is wrong and not helping it.

So really, I don't think anyone is 'winning' per se. Humans and nature are both getting hurt but at the same time we're still benefiting from this world.

Summed up, humans are simultaneously winning and losing. Whoo.

Again, that's like the epitome of what I didn't want.

Finally, the unavowed winner of the thread said,

Well, think of it this way;
There have been unnatural events happening lately across the world over the past few years, such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, tornados, typhoons, and haven't they all been happening because we're ruining the environment? I'd say we're making the earth act so much more violently against us. In a sense, we're winning, but it in the end we all know nature will win.

Basically, that humans are briefly ahead, but nature's going to catch up and surpass. Kind of like the Japanese versus the Americans in World War 2.

All these answers kind of surprised me. I was expecting weird, crazy answers. Or at least one weird crazy answer.

Congratulations to all that answered for being thoughtful and incredibly unfun.

Pig Launching; Feasible?

Let's wrap up this Yahoo Answers stuff.

So near the beginning, spurred on by the success of my one questions, decided to ask another. Unfortunately, this one had only one answer. I thought it was interesting enough...

I asked,

Say one is to launch a pig as far as they can where the pig stays alive in the end. Assume this is an average pig.

What contraption would you recommend?

How would you keep the pig alive?

How far could you get the pig?

Any mathematics you'd like to show off?

Like I said, I only got one answer. Thank you, brave soul who actually managed to find my question.

Of course, I was intending for some sort of safe pig catapult. Yeah, I know it's crazy, but maybe someone else didn't think so.

Too bad the guy who answered thought I wanted a pig in space.

So, their first answer was to send the pig up via the Russian's commercial space flight system.

While I'm sure they'd offer some sort of discount for non-humans, it'd still be FREAKING EXPENSIVE.

His next suggestion was to send the pig up on a satellite, a la Laika.

Alas, if the superman episode about sending a monkey into space is any indication, that's not a good idea at all.

As for an actual answer to my question, I'd probably go with a normal catapult, but with a pig parachute. It might work.

Heck, I might even make the parachute tiered, just like Susan from my 8th grade science class did to her bottle rocket. The Susan everyone overlooked, and subsequently won. Surprisingly, I lost. Second to last.

Dr. Who Has Just Two More Regenerations

While not necessarily news, it is news to me.


Image taken from the Dr. Who Wikipedia Article

Dr. Who, everyone's favorite space hopping eccentric doctor, has just two regenerations to go.

The Doctor regenerates whenever a normal person would have died. Whenever he regerates, he looks like a different person.

What that means in normal people terms is that the show is nearing an end. Not close to an end, but it's getting there slowly.

This is kinda big as the show's been running since 1963, and has umpteen million bajillion fans.

I was alerted to this fact by a post in a forum. In this same forum, it was also alleged that Dr. Who would be regenerating soon.

FaceSearch; Search for Faces

So last time, I mentioned "SearchMe," a visual search site.

An anonymous source tipped me off about FaceSearch.

It's essentially a Google image search that displayed the results in a very cool manner.

Heck, I was even able to find myself.

SearchMe; Visual Search

Are you borderline illiterate? Of course you aren't, but wouldn't you like a search engine that shows your results as pictures instead of just words?

Here comes Search Me. Like I said, it shows you image previews of pages you search for.

As far as I can tell, though, Google is a better search engine. I searched for my blog, and it didn't have it. Even when I searched specifically for the web address, it didn't show up. So I'm guessing the search isn't as detailed. But if you're just quickly searching for, oh let's say 'Monkeys,' then it would suffice.

Comment on Spore Galactic Edition

Re: EA to offer Spore Galactic Edition
If they're going to charge 30 bucks more than the standard version of the game, they should at least include a plastic guitar or something.
-concentric

Source

Games I'm Looking Forward To; Spore

Duh.

Games I'm Looking Forward To; Civilization Revolution DS

If you anything about anything about Civ, then you'll know it's awesomely addictive.

However, playing it on my laptop is less than ideal. And sometimes I just want to play it on the go.

That's where the DS version comes in.

Also, I hear things are more simplified and more like a board game. I kinda like that in a game.

Like, trading card game videogames. I get really into those, and I think it's because of the set rules in a consistent environment. It doesn't really change, it's always the same. Which is nice.

So I think I'll love this game.