Buildability != Invincibility

Manually updating Ubuntu system alternatives

2010-02-06T22:40:00.007-05:00

I like to have the freedom to install the latest Java releases without waiting for them to be available as an Ubuntu package. The problem is, if you manually install java, you need to update Ubuntu's update-alternatives framework so that other components which use java can be made aware of the new version.

Assuming you just downloaded jdk1.6.0_18 and placed it in opt. Here's how to do it:

sudo update-alternatives --install java java /opt/jdk1.6.0_18/bin/java 1
sudo update-alternatives --config java

I might have screwed up my update-alternatives configuration for java, but I had to repeat this process for all the java executables that update-alternatives tracks.

I got a list of them using:

ls -l /usr/bin | grep java

And then performed the same two steps to set each one to use the jdk1.6.0_18 version.

There's also a good article on the Java site about manually updating the Java Firefox plugin:

http://java.sun.com/javase/6/webnotes/install/jre/manual-plugin-install-linux.html

The Ubuntu update-alternatives utility can also be used to set the Firefox java plugin:

sudo update-alternatives --install firefox-javaplugin.so firefox-javaplugin.so /opt/jdk1.6.0_18/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so 1
sudo update-alternatives --config firefox-javaplugin.so

Fun In The Desert

2007-06-25T21:14:00.000-04:00

Some pics from my work trip out to California. The Mohave desert was a blast (and hot).

Corporate Kung-Fu

2007-06-25T20:33:00.001-04:00

It's the classic tale of revenge and office battle royal you all know and love!

Eric recently asked me about our high school senior english video, so it's here for your viewing pleasure! Long live Mr. Cole!

Note: The version I have on my machine doesn't appear to be our final version. There are a few places where more editing was clearly needed, and a few gaps in the "story line" (such as it is) that we later filled in. Most notably, when The New Guy dons his motorcycle helmet / shower nozzle getup after the meeting scene, there's no explanation that it is, of course, and ACME Stealth Suit which allows The New Guy to surreptitiously place a note in The Boss' pocket. Also, the end credits are, regrettably, missing.

Regardless, here it is in all its glory:

Virtual Bubblewrap

2007-06-25T12:17:00.000-04:00

One of those ideas you should have thought of :)...

Virtual Bubblewrap

Civil War Miniatures

2007-05-28T17:12:00.000-04:00

Over Christmas I broke out my half finished High School senior thesis miniatures for my dad to use as test subjects for his macro photography box. The results are some pretty cool close up shots. I've still got a file with all the research, rules, and sketches--it would be nice to finish the game some day.

Must Post More...

2006-12-11T01:39:00.000-05:00

I probably make a this post every couple of months... but here it goes anyways :).

I've never written a journal before--or at least if I've tried it's never lasted very long--but it's always something that I've wanted to do. Now this blog isn't really a journal. When I think of a journal I think of a very personal account of someone's day to day life. Here I'm just trying to put down anything and everything interesting that I think of, see, do, or find on the internet--hopefully some of which might even be of interest or use to someone. At the very least, many of the posts have information that I think I might like to remember sometime down the line.

Anyway, I need some system to force myself to make more regular posts. Suggestions welcome :). I'll let you know if I think of something.

Myth II Soulblighter

2006-12-11T01:14:00.000-05:00

Ahh a wonderfull game from back in the day. I remember playing the original Myth (circa 1997) over dialup from the upstairs attic of our house (then my Dad's office I believe). Myth II came along a year later and, despite being officially dropped by Bungie in 2002, still has hosted servers and regular updates from a still thriving online community.

The site playmyth.nethosts the games online servers and acts as a repository for the multitude of player created maps which have given the game such a long lifespan.

Other community projects like Project Magma, The Tain, and Flying Flip update the games themselves.

Myth II, for example, was made before OS X, and certainly long before Apple's switch to Intel processors. So the original executable on the CD will not even run on my fancy new 24inch core 2 duo imac. However, the good people at The Tain have an updated Auto Installer which copies the files you need from the Myth II disk and applies the latest updates and bug fixes as well as patches necessary to play on playmyth.net's servers now that the famous Bungie.net is no longer hosting Myth.

But that's not all!!! There's a new update currently in beta which turns Myth II into a Universal Binary application! How freeking cool is that? An almost 10 year old game that I can install, pull some updates off the internet, and run it native on my core 2 duo. So props to the amazing community that the Myth series fostered. Bungie produced a real gem with Myth. Too bad they sold their souls to Microsoft--and while they're still producing amazing stuff (read Halo) the fact that it's first available only on XBox/XBox 360 really stinks. Especially since this is from a company who started out on the mac; producing, among others, the genera defining Marathon Series (which, by the way, also still has an amazing cult following). Of course with Marathon the following in more focused on decyphering the amazingly subtle and detailed storyline and looking for connections to various other Bungie games.

So if you do decide to give this gem a try, look around for Shebanator on the playmyth.netservers. I'd be happy to own you ;).

Board Game Geek Web Widget -- 5 Games from my Collection

2006-12-11T01:05:00.000-05:00

On an earlier entry, I posted a link to boardgamegeek.com. It's still a thriving site which I recommend to anyone interested in board gaming.

Anyway, they recently implemented a fun little web widget that allows you to, among other things, link to random games from my collection. I've entered the games that I own into a database and the php/javascript web widget on bgg.com allows me to display them here. So here goes, 5 random games from my collection!

Edit: Well damn, blogger aparently doesn't like scipt tags. That really sucks. But I typed all this so I'll publish the darn entry anyway.

Gazebo

2006-08-25T22:23:00.000-04:00

For those living with their heads buried in the sand, this month witnessed the 2006 Apple WWDC and the unveiling during Steve Job's keynote of Mac OS Leopard. Now during the keynote, one of the really cool Leopard features Steve unveiled was the Dashboard Webclip Widget, which allows users to make a dashboard widget out of any section of a web page. The example used during the live demo was the creation of an automatically updating daily dilbert comic widget.

I used to check dilbert.com religiously, but stopped somewhere along the line--probably after my hard drive got nuked for the third or fourth time and I lost all my firefox bookmarks yet again. But that little snippet of the keynote got me checking the site again.

Now on a seemingly unrelated note, I was recently reminded of the funniest gaming cartoon ever -- the Knights of the Dinner Table Gazebo encounter -- by a Knights of the Dinner Table comic in the back of a friend's car. Fast forward a few weeks, and I suddenly have the urge to check on the web for Knights of the Dinner Table comics and lo and behold: the gazebo in flash animated glory. Oh, and there's lots of other funny ones :). Enjoy.

Starbucks versus McDonalds

2006-08-21T22:19:00.000-04:00

Here's an interesting graphic on the growth (over time and geographically) of Starbucks and McDonalds.

It really surprised me that Starbucks doesn't have more sales--what with one of the funniest Onion articles ever being a gag on the Borg-like expansion of Starbucks. This article was eight years ago too (how I remember it I have no idea). If they were expanding so fast to be noteworthy back then, how do they only have 6700 stores world wide? Seems bizarre to me. Or maybe they just aren't counting all the franchises inside bathrooms...

Software Development Blog

2006-08-21T22:13:00.000-04:00

Found this blog on digg.com. The entry that especially interested me was the entry on personality trates of good software developers (especially his assertion that the best software developers are 28 times more productive than the worst--a fact that quickly becomes not very suprising at all after doing any work in the field).

Anyway, personal goal: read more of this guy's stuff.

Commute by Bike

2006-08-20T14:23:00.000-04:00

I've recently heard some commute horror stories, which always remind me how lucky I am to be able to bike to work (and sometimes I definitely need reminding, given just how much I pay in rent for that priviledge). One of my coworkers has a 2 hour commute (each way). Another is thinking above moving a bit further west since rent is steadily climbing here in Reston, but might be looking at a 30 minute commute depending on traffic.

So here's my commute statistics for comparison:

2.43 miles
15.15 minutes
9.62 average speed

Throw in the added exercise and subtract expenses for gas, and you've got yourself a pretty sweet deal.

Oh, and speaking of expenses reminded me of the other reason I recently patted myself on the back for bike commuting. Virginia and Maryland have pretty strict vehicle inspection and emissions standards, so when Jason moved up here he had to get his ride inspected. Apparently they didn't appreciate a few rusty holes in the exhaust system, so there's a $700+ repair right there.

Virginia DMV

2006-08-20T14:12:00.000-04:00

I wrote the following post on 3/27/2006, however at the time I never actually finished and published it. Well, the saga is still continuing (believe it or not) and I figure I should finally publish this old post and then give an update:

So this weekend I finally decided that I'd procrastinated long enough and needed to go out and get my VA driver's license. According to the eligibility rules new residents are supposed to get their license transferred within 60 days of moving... oops. Of course without a car it's tough enough to force myself to get up at 8am on a Saturday morning for a 7 mile bike ride up to the DMV office (they close 12pm on Saturday, but 5pm on weekdays, which really doesn't give me enough time after work to make it up there).

So last weekend I gathered up all the documents I needed, planned my route, and set out...

Only to get half way and be stopped by a bike path which sort of petered out into a wooded area beside a massive 6 or so lane highway. I even used Google satilite images to check out the route a bit ahead of time. Of course, I learned in retrospect that what looks like a tiny brown smudge when you're viewing from space can turn out to be a giant ditch that's a real pain to haul your bike over.

On the bright side though, Google maps does a pretty cool job of letting you look for alternate routes. The maps are much clearer than MapQuest and you can even sometimes make out where the bike paths are. As far as I can tell there aren't any convenient bus routes up that way either. Ahh well.. I'll just have to try again next week.

So a few weeks after the above post, I actually did find another route which actually worked out very well. It turns out that the Washington and Old Dominion Trail is an excellent resource for bikers. It passes right through Reston, as well as through a number of other towns in the area. Using that I was easily able to Sterling and the DMV office (100 Free Ct., Sterling, VA 20164).

Finally! I had my license......

Until I realized that the receptionist had misspelled my address.......

And made a typo on my birth date!

So soon I've got to haul myself back out there, stand in the crazy-long line, and get the darn thing fixed. Oh joy.

Caylus and El Grande

2006-08-20T13:24:00.000-04:00

Finally -- after months of waiting for Rio Grande Games' inane shipping schedule which seems to take popular games in and out of print in long half year cycles -- I got my hands on both Caylus and El Grande from TimeWellSpent.org.

From what I've read about TimeWellSpent and from the one order that I've made with them, I'm definitely impressed. They're not only a family owned business, but they're a family of gamers! The prices are very competitive (and often way better than the really big name online distributor for euro-style games funagain.com. So I'm more than happy to support them.

I've finished two plays of Caylus (both with only two players--but one of the great things about Caylus its excellent scalability from as few as 2 players to as many as 5). I haven't gotten to play El Grande yet (again mostly because it really requires at least 3) but I hope to rectify that on Monday when our bi-weekly Metron game night starts up again after a rather lengthy summer hiatus.

Unfortunetly I'm not very good at remembering enough of games to write very good session reports--something I'll work on--but suffice to say both games of Caylus so far were a blast and I look forward to playing with more people.

aolstalker.com

2006-08-15T10:05:00.000-04:00

AOL thought to do the research community a favor by releasing the search records of about 650,000 members—a total of 36,389,629 individual searches—to the public. Funny, you'd think that if they had actually looked at the sorts of stuff people search for they would have realized that there are alot of creepy people on the internet... creepy people who are going to use the data to create amazingly popular internet pop culture icons like aolstalker.com.

There's a full story about it here along with 7 catagories of internet users which the author came up with by sifting through the data. Sort of reminiscent of the classic Timmy Johny Spike article for you Magic players out there.

Anyway—now's probably a good time to remind yourself that everything you do in the internet and everywhere you go is cached on about 20 servers around the world, so you're really better off just unplugging everything and hiding in a downstairs basment (remember to stay away from glass windows!)

Morbid Children's Toys!

2006-07-24T18:20:00.000-04:00

So I recently discovered http://www.huggableurns.com/ -- don't ask how :) -- a site which just goes to show that people will think of, and try to sell, virtually anything.

Note: Hopefully I can avoid being a lazy blogger like I have been for the past three months... we'll see...

String Theory

2006-04-20T09:38:00.000-04:00

There's what looks to be a pretty cool PBS mini-series on String Theory which they've made available on the web here:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/program.html

I haven't had a chance to check it out yet, but it looks like pretty cool stuff.

Google Page Creator

2006-04-13T10:03:00.000-04:00

I just recieved an email today inviting me to try out the newest Google web gadget: Google Pages.

It's a very slick web-based web page creation tool. You also get 100MB of free storage space for your site and it's hosted for free on Google's servers. You use your gmail account and password to log on and edit your page.

I haven't had much time to play around with it, but here's the page I threw together in 20 seconds: http://geoff.ulman.googlepages.com/home.

Movie.... withdraw.... hands.... shaking....

2006-03-27T12:27:00.000-05:00

I'd originally planned to have a bran spanking new Intel Core-Duo Imac sitting on my desk by now to replace my old Dell craptop. Alas it was not to be. TurboTax decided to let me know that Roth-IRA rules have changed and the max yearly contribution was doubled. Bah! I couldn't really pass up not maxing it out for this year since those things are such a good deal: you pay no taxes on earnings, there are less restrictions on when withdrawals can be made, etc.... Although on a side note, I did not realize until recently that contributions to Roth-IRAs actually don't effect the tax bracket you are placed into; only regular IRA contributions do this.

Of course I also want to quickly pay down the student loans that I still have left just to get them out of the way and pay as little interest as possible. All that combined doesn't leave tons of cash for computer purchasing.

That's fine, I can wait (I'd really like to see some discounted refurbished Core-Duo Imacs) but there's so many movies that I've missed recently that I need to find some way to play DVDs. Ever since the hard drive died over the summer on my Compaq I haven't had a lot of the basic software that came in Roes' software suite.

If I did go ahead and get a TV, my old xbox should work fine for DVD playing, so I'd be all set. I just have to decide how cheap I want to be :). I wouldn't really want to spend much, but then again I'd want something that would be actually worth watching. So if anyone sees any sweet TV deals out there let me know :).

Oh! on a side note I watched Serenity recently, which is a pretty damn good movie based on the really damn good TV series Firefly. I watched it at a coworker's house and the really cool part was the projector setup he had. Pretty much just a ceiling mounted projector facing a nice big section of wall in this nook in the basement--gave a real movie theater-esq experience.

Hit by a Car

2006-03-07T11:17:00.000-05:00

Biking to work is a great thing, don't get me wrong. it's great exercize. It saves money. It's a nice opertunity to get outside...

However, the real downside, which I've been annoyed by all along, but which really only hit me today (pun probably intended), is the fact that bicyclists are pretty much invisible to most drivers. I notice it every day. We technicaly have the right of way at crosswalks for example, but only maybe one in twenty drivers making a left turn over the crosswalk will actually stop.

The same thing happens with people turning out of mall parking lots--and that's where I finally got run over today.

Well.... maybe not run over :) and really not even hit hard enough to knock me over, but definitely enough to be pretty pissed of :). It was the typical scenario: car waiting for break in traffic to pull onto the road--I start crossing in front of it--soccer mom in soccer mom van decides then is a good time to pedal to the metal and pull out into the street.

The van, the bike, and myself came out completely unscathed. The driver was very apologetic, and I really just wanted to get to work, so after assuring her I was fine, we simply drove and rode on.

I suppose I'll just have to start waiting for all the cars rushing to god knows where to go on past before I use crosswalks where I technically have the right of way. Right of way won't do me much good when Newton's Third Law kicks in.

So until next time, if you see a biker, stop for them!

ORLY?

2006-02-14T10:13:00.000-05:00

Too funny not to post... if you've read a World of Warcraft forum in the past month (maybe any internet forum--it's amazing how this stuff spreads and would incidentally be a pretty cool study) you've seen the "o rly?" owl and his brother the "ya rly" owl (as in "oh really?" and "yes really" for those not fluent in 1337, err.... leet speak). Of course you also can't get away from Chuck Norris (wow forum postsers spend the time they're not making new ASCII orly owls browsing http://chucknorrisfacts.com/ for new material).

Isn't internet pop culture fun? :)

Until next time,

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Brown-bagging it

2006-02-14T09:47:00.000-05:00

I was sitting here at my desk a moment ago eating lunch and I got the oddest sense of deja'vu. Thinking about it for a second, looking down at my sandwich, yogurt, banana, etc... I realize that I've eaten pretty much this same thing, or mixed and matched pieces of it, since, oh middle school.

Today it's in a plastic bag (I reuse the ones I get grocery shopping) instead of the brown bag I always brought to school and contains:

Quaker Chewey Oatmeal Rasin Granola Bar
Giant Brand "fruit on the bottom" Peach Yogurt (with oats for topping)
Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwich (Whole Wheat Bread)
Banana
Baby Carrots
Container of Baked Beans
Can of Coke "Zero" (from lunch room fridge--some days its water or OJ, but today Coke sounded good)

Oh, I should note that I pack a lot, but don't eat lunch all at once. I sort of nibble all throughout the day. If I don't then I'm hungry by 3:00 and can't bear to drag myself to the gym after work because all I can think about is getting something to eat :).

Actually looking over my list I see a mix of old and new. Gone are the peanuts and Caprisun that I remember very vividly from high school lunches. Gone are the Nuti-Cookies as well (although right after Christmas I raided our fridge at home did have them again for a while). Gone are the pretzels (although every once in a while I get a bag and have them for a while). I've added random items from my fridge. Leftover pizza or chicken or salmon often gets thrown in there, or canned soup if I've been too lazy to bike to Giant in a while and am running low on stuff (my fridge is almost always pretty empty--when you're living by yourself stuff goes bad if you buy too much food--of course with only a bike carrier and a backpack to take groceries home in I can't buy much regardless).

Two things I'd like to follow up on:

Writing this and thinking about the lunches I've packed in the past made me want to keep something of a record of it. I think I'll post again in a month or so to see what's changed (if I can remember!)
I definitely inherited some parsimonious genes from my mom :) so besides packing lunch so I get to eat exactly what I want, I also do it to save money. I'd be interested to see how much I spend on food on average per week. I'll check my Quicken data at some point, but as a quick estimate I don't think it's more than $30 (and with prices at the lunch places around here--Panera, COSI, Wrapworks, Chipotle--I'd spend more than that just on five days of lunches).

Happy e day!

2006-02-07T12:44:00.000-05:00

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Staying out late... partying across the country... that's it my dollars are so grounded

2006-02-02T18:13:00.000-05:00

If you haven't checked out Where's George you defnitely should. It's a neat website that allows you to enter your US paper money and see where it ends up on its travels after it leaves your wallet. If the bill was already entered into Where's George you can see where it has been as well!

I'm tracking a few bills. You can check em out here:

El'Cashos Numero Uno
Bill Zwei
Currency Unit 11

Unfortunetly none of the bills I've entered had any history and no one has entered anything since. But one of these days!

There was also a recent news story about how Where's George was recently used to model the spread of infectious disease based on the assumption that since paper money is carried around by people, mapping its movements may be a good model of how other things carried by humans (mainly diseases) get carried around. This is especially cool because it's very related to some of the work that Metron does. A number of our projects deal with modeling social networks (in our case for the purpose of detecting terrorist activity).

Oh, and finally, for all you Slash Dot fans out there, aparently the news story above was picked up by so many news media sources that Where's George couldn't handle the load, so of course the slashdotters took credit for it:

And PLEASE stop telling me I've been slashdotted or FARKed. I've been slashdotted and FARKed many times before,

and my servers can handle that piddly load. Just because a site is overwhelmed with traffic

DOES NOT MEAN you slashdotters get to take the credit. The cause of the extreme traffic is that hundreds

of online news outlets, TV, Radio, and print have all picked up this story at the same time.

To see all these stories, please enter "wheresgeorge.com" into news.google.com, or just click here.

Congrats Jason!

2006-01-29T17:37:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to congradulate Jason on accepting a position at Mantech International! He's going to be living in Columbia, Maryland starting in mid-June.

It's about an hour drive (assuming of course no infamous DC traffic) from Reston, just a quick hop over the Potomac.

Definitely looking forward to hanging out with the J-man. And best of luck to you!

(don't slack off too much the rest of the year, you still gotta graduate you know)

Dumb things I probably shouldn't admit to here

2006-01-29T17:37:00.000-05:00

Living on your own is tons of fun. You can walk around all day in your boxers... be a slob for a week until you get disgusted with yourself and go on a massive cleaning spree... use foldup chairs as dining room furniture for an unspecified but very long length of time... leave little hairs from your electric shaver all over the bathroom sink... leave the toilet seat up... not that I do any of those things of course.

And besides, the myriad annoying little messes one can manage to make around the house isn't the issue here--it's the myriad opportunities for doing really dumb things that living on your own provides.

The Dryer
So here I am. I think it's about midday on Saturday and the laundry is really starting to pile up (oh that's another annoying mess for the list: saving 5 bucks by eschewing a hamper and piling your laundry in a heap on the bedroom floor). So I throw in a load and let it go. Finishes fine. I throw it in the dryer. Throw another in the washer. The washer finishes. The dryer finishes. The clothes in the dryer are, if it's possible, wetter than when they started. Ah well, oblivious me just decides they need more time. So I throw em back in on full power and let it rip. An hour later... clothes still soaked, and clothes in the washer probably starting to mildew. So I finally catch on that something is up.

I take all the clothes out and stare blankly around the insides of the washer. Then it hits me! That little contraption hidden in the back there is probably the lint filter! Now, since I didn't know it was there until now, it clearly hasn't been changed... ever. I wish more than ever I had a digital camera, because the chunk of lint stuck in this thing was truly impressive: about an inch thick layer of tightly compressed petrified lint comes out in my hand when I get this thing open. Needless to say the dryer works wonderfully after that.

Oatmeal + Microwave
I love sales, I definitely inherited this from my mom. Whenever I go grocery shopping almost everything I end up buying is on sale. So, this week they had Quaker Oatmeal for half off and I got a few containers. The change of pace in breakfast food would definitely be appreciated I figured. The next morning I get out one of my Tupperware containers, pour in some Oatmeal and some water, add a pinch of salt, and stick the sucker in the microwave, and walk away.

I go brush my teeth, start getting my work stuff gathered up, get some clothes on, and head back to the kitchen when the microwave beeps. I open the microwave door... and there is literally Oatmeal coating every single surface but the bottom of my tupperware container where it should be! What a mess... I'm still not quite sure what I did wrong, but I put a lid on now, and check on the stuff in one minute intervals in case it decides to try any funny business.

The Furnace
This one occurred a little while back, sometime in December, right as it was starting to get cold for the first time. I'm sitting at home, on the computer I think, when the thought suddenly occurs to be that I'm freezing cold. It's literally to the point where I can almost see my breath. I throw on my winter coat and insulated pants and dash over to the thermostat, which reads 50 degrees! So after turning it up to 90 with no effect, I assume, to my dismay, that the furnace is broken and that I have a very dismal couple of days ahead of me until my landlords can get someone out to fix the darn thing.

The only thing left to do is get out the folder of appliance manuals for the make and model of the furnace and start writing an email to my landlord. Fortunately, as I'm flipping through the furnace manual I see this little clause about proper technique for lighting the pilot light. The Pilot Light! Now I don't know much about furnaces, but that definitely sets off alarms. I head back outside to my utility closet and, after finally determining the location of the pilot and getting the cover off, discover that yes, of course, it's not lit. If fact, the thing had been turned off since I got there and the furnace had never been working. It had just never been cold enough for me to notice.

That's not quite the end of the story. Of course I'm relieved, but when I go to actually light it, an extensive search of my house reveals that there is no source of fire or flame anywhere! And thus the tale finally ends with a 2am bike ride to the nearest CVS to buy a lighter to light my pilot light so I can go to sleep with my winter coat hanging on the peg where it belongs while I'm inside.

Earliest Memories of Computing

2006-01-26T21:41:00.000-05:00

Note: This post was written for my dad's blog chronicaling peoples Earliest Memories of Computing. If you're interested in more similar stories check out his site and contribute!

My generation, for the first time in history, grew up with personal computers in our homes. For as far back as many of us can remember, we've been word processing, loading games off of 8 1/2 inch floppies, and making art with Kid Pix instead of finger paints. Sure digital computers have been around three times as long as I've been alive, and some of the principles have been around much longer (you could get as silly dating computers back to the abacus or perhaps claim the basic theory has been around since the Church-Turing thesis of 1948).

I didn't just grow up with computers though, I grew up with Macs. In fact, until College the DOS-prompt, Windows, blue-screen-of-death world of PCs held an unknowable mystique. For me, computers were "happy" (and yes, occasionally "sad" or "blinking question mark") mac icons, "hello" greetings, and HyperCard. A "computer" was a bulky tan box which consisted mostly of a screen with a little 8 1/2 inch floppy below it whose resemblance to a mouth gave the Mac a cheerfull, friendly countenance. (Incidentally, computer anthropomorphism has been used by Apple since as well. Adds for the revolutionary new iMac design featured it mimicking an observer's motions).
I remember our Apple 2e, although we might have had computers older than that. The earliest macs I remember had no hard drive at all. Each program contained the operating system and program you wanted to run. I think at some point we had two floppy drives which meant we could keep one dedicated to the operating system and switch programs at will! Beside the computer there were a few large storage cases full of disks. In particular I remembered an amazing dungeon crawl game where you moved your avatar through a dungeon filled with monsters and items and made of square tiles of alternating colors like a chess board. After some Google research I finally rediscovered this gem: Dungeon of Doom! I also remember playing Artillery (another classic where you and an opponent take turns aiming and shooting your cannons at each other, adjusting your settings with each shot). I must have been in kindergarten or earlier. Like many my age I've been using computers as long as I've been able to grasp a mouse.

Helicopter Pilot, Shufflepuck, Daleks, Glider, Cairo Shootout, Banzai, Wheel... these are games I grew up on. I remember my three or four disks full of games being a treasured posetion. We were not a TV watching family (my dad only got us a color TV when I convinced myself that the black and white Star Trek episodes that we would watch every week were in color) and in a way the computer took its place.

Over all these years and through my rude reintegrated with the PC world (which I avoided all the way until college) I've retained a few important things from those early macs: a love of computers, a love of computer games, a fascination with being able to "communicate to" (program) a computer in its language, and a love for the aesthetic side of computers.

My life, even my career and friends, were definitely, if not obviously, influenced strongly by my constant silicon childhood companions. I've done independent thesis research on interfaces and human computer interaction. My fascination with the almost magical ability type commands into the computer in the right way and before your eyes see your instructions carried out, would lead me to my undergraduate degree and my current profession. The computer games I played as a child even shaped my hobbies today. I never stopped playing computer games (although I did start making my own), but my love of board, role-playing, and card games I think all stems from hours playing Dungeon of Doom and Artillery on the Mac. I suppose in a way it's ironic that these computer games would be my gateway to the very traditional game media which inspired the computer games to begin with.

Game Over.

Second Life

2006-01-25T16:59:00.000-05:00

I recently heard about a pretty cool MMO, not new (it's been out for a few years now) but very cool. The "game" is called Second Life.

It's essentially a freeform space that allows "residents" the ability to buy land and build anything they want on it using their own textures and geometric primitives. Scripts can even be added to in game objects with a c/java like language to bring them to life.

The site claims that there are people who made all or part of their real life living providing a wide array of services in game. In addition to buying services or in-game objects and scripts, players can also buy and rent land, and exchange in game currency (Linden Dollars) for US Dollars at an official site or a number of player run sites.

Of course this concept is nothing new. People have been selling and buying virtual items and currency for as long as massively multiplayer persistent worlds have existed. Second Life is unique, however, in that they encourage this free market economy, even giving players full intellectual property rights and ownership of anything they possess or create in game.

Sort of makes me wonder... if people can make their entire living through such an online world, what if it were possible to hook yourself permanently into such a world? Perhaps leaving your body in some sort of life support, perhaps (even more futuristic) discarding it completely. Of course such scenarios are the bread and butter of futuristic cyber-punk horror stories. But might people actually do so voluntarily? What if it was a way to save off physical death? To live forever in a Second Life?

Washington Correspondent's Guide

2006-01-24T20:53:00.000-05:00

The New York Times ran a pretty cool mini-guide to 10 US cities. Washington was one of the ten they did. I'm half posting this as a reminder to me :) so anyone else can probably safely ignore it. Unless of course you're dieing to know where the best grub in D.C. happens to be.

Washington Correspondent’s Guide
By TODD S. PURDUM

Favorite Restaurant: 1789 at 1226 36th Street NW in Georgetown; 202-965-1789.
Cozy, elegant warren of rooms - one with a cheery fireplace - that just seems to define
Washington. The French-inspired cuisine is homey and adventurous all at the same time.
Big wine list, great old-fashioned bar. Dinner for two, with wine and tip, about $150.
Favorite New Restaurant: Black Salt, 4883 MacArthur Boulevard NW; 202-342-9101.
Superb seafood restaurant, with attached fish market, in a leafy residential neighborhood
near the Potomac River above Georgetown. Every night, there is a whole, roasted fish
special and several varieties of fish stew. Oysters on the half-shell, and local greens.
Dinner is about $100 to $125 for two, with wine and tip.

Favorite Hotel: If cost is no object, the Four Seasons in Georgetown, with its big rooms,
crisp sheets and pampering spa at 2800 Pennsylvania Avenue NW; 202-342-0444, rates
range from $350 to $495. For family visitors, especially children, the Embassy Suites at
Chevy Chase Pavilion, 4300 Military Road NW; 202-362-9300, has big rooms, indoor
pool and adjacent to a fine mall and other nearby stores, for $129 to $309.

Favorite Shop or Shopping Area: Mazza Gallerie and the adjacent stores on upper
Wisconsin Avenue on the border of the district and Chevy Chase, Md. Williams-Sonoma,
Tiffany and Company, Saks, Nieman Marcus, etc., all within a few hundred yards.

Favorite Way to Spend a Rainy Day: Any of the Smithsonian museums on the Mall,
including the Museum of Natural History with its brilliant new mammal exhibit.
Favorite Place to Meet a Friend for a Drink: The Bombay Club, 815 Connecticut
Avenue NW; 202-659-3727. British Colonial-style redoubt with rattan furniture, great
martinis, cocktail piano and a comfy, quiet, dark bar, frequented by lobbyists, journalists
and Indian expatriates.

Favorite Place for People Watching: Reagan National Airport, especially the Delta and
US Airways Shuttle departure lounges, where you're apt to see television journalists,
members of Congress, corporate chieftains and everybody else. That elderly man
struggling with a ticket machine might just be Robert McNamara.

Favorite Place to Hear Live Music: In winter: The Birchmere, in Alexandria, Va., a
nightclub-style venue for folk-rock-bluegrass from Roseanne Cash to Mary Black. In
summer: Wolf Trap Farm Park in Vienna, Va., home of outdoor classical concerts and
touring musicals.

Favorite Place to Go for a Walk: The Capital Crescent Trail, which snakes from the
Georgetown University boathouse on the Potomac to suburban Maryland, along an
abandoned rail line.

Favorite Place to Buy Gifts: The Stephen Decatur House gift shop, 1610 H Street NW;
202-842-0920. Gift shop in historic home a block from the White House features
Washington-themed Christmas ornaments, reproductions of White House china, silver,
jewelry and decorative housewares.

Favorite Day Trip: Charlottesville, Va., and Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Only a
couple of hours away, and a world apart.

Sight You Shouldn’t Miss: The Lincoln Memorial, preferably at twilight. It never fails
to awe, and it's hard to read those words carved on the walls without feeling better about
your country.

Most Overrated Sight: The Mall. Terrific vistas of the Capitol and the memorials, but
overcrowded, dusty, pocked with souvenir stands and in summer, often uncomfortably
lacking in shade.

Intense T&E Game

2006-01-23T23:21:00.000-05:00

Wow monuments make for cutthroat, high-scoring Tigris and Euphrates games. You can tell by the scattered tiles and wall of disasters surrounding the two monuments that they were the focus of most of the game. You can also tell that lion went to town with the bule-green before me (urns) grabed it far too late.

Still I think I had a respectable finish. One more tile would have given me 11. That puts me down to 7 concurrent games going on boardgamegeek.com... time to join some more me thinks!

As a side note, there's a new Tigris and Euphrates card game out this year. Looks like the game mechanics are very similar, with kingdoms being made up of columns of cards (each card representing one of the four T&E tiles).

That's it, the thermostat is going down to 55

2006-01-23T23:12:00.000-05:00

Panera Lunch: 7 dollars.
Groceries: 23 dollars.
Fitness Club: 33 dollars.

One Hundred and Thirty Dollar Heating Bill: Priceless.

Guildpact Prerelease

2006-01-21T18:01:00.000-05:00

What a fun day! Prereleases are pretty much the only (non-online) magic I get to play these days and they're always a blast.

Without further ado here was my card pool (cards included in my deck are in bold):

Blue:
Leyline of Singularity
Train of Thought
Runeboggle
Frazzle
Remand
Crystal Seer
Infiltrator's Magemark
Vedalken Plotter
Grayscale Gharial
Tattered Drake
Stasis Cell
Vedalken Entrancer
Torch Drake

Green:
Greater Mossdog
Gruul Hodorog
Bramble Elemental
Wildsize
Beastmaster's Magemark (x2)
Doubling Season
Dowsing Shaman
Dryad's Caress
Gather Courage
Stone-Seeder Hierophant

Black:
Moonlight Bargain
Disembowl
Douse in Gloom
Strands of Undeath
Roofstalker Wight
Brainspoil
Orzhov Euthanist
Sewerdreg
Shred Memory
Hissing Miasma
Caustic Rain
Cry of Contrition

White:
Harrier Griffin
Ghost Warden
Absolver Thrull (x2)
Veteran Armorer
Benevolent Ancestor
Oathsworn Giant
Lionheart Maverick (x2)
Guardian's Magemark
Dromad Purebred

Red:
Sparkmage Apprentice
Scorched Rusalka
Viashino Slasher
Sabertooth Alley Cat
Fencer's Magemark
Rain of Embers
Seismic Spike
Blockbuster

Gruul:
Gruul Scrapper
Scab-Clan Mauler (x2)
Gruul Signet
Savage Twister
Burning-Tree Bloodscale
Ghor-Clan Savage
Wild Cantor
Streetbreaker Wurm

Selesnya:
Pollenbright Wings
Selesnya Sanctuary
Selesnya Signet

Golgari:
Golgari Rot Farm
Golgari Signet
Golgari Guildmage

Boros:
Flash Conscription
Boros Signet
Thundersong Trumpeter
Searing Meditation (foil)
Boros Swiftblade

Izzit:
Pyromantics
Djinn Illuminatus
Wee Dragonauts
Izzet Signet
Izzet Boilerworks
Leap of Fire

Orzov:
Angel of Despair
Conjurer's Ban
Castigate

Dimir:
Dimir Infiltrator
Consult the Necrosages
Dimir Signet

Artifact:
Spectral Searchlight
Leashling

Land:
Skarrg, the Rage Pits

My mana base was much more solid with this build than any of my opponents (with 6 mountains, 6 forests, and 2 plains supported by various guild kharoos and signets). I saw many four and five color decks throught the day which I felt was not necessary even in this inherently multi-colored format. There's something to be said about playing your best stuff, but I think even with all the color fixing available in Ravnica, it's often best to leave out some bombs for a solid mana base and curve. That said, it's almost impossible to stick to just two colors. So I'm very happy with a solid Gruul build splashing white for access to both Selesnya and Boros.

My other option was to throw black in there. I do have some goods in black (three removal cards) as well as the Angel of Despair and you might consider me crazy for not playing them. But besides those the color is so shallow. Both Angel and Strands can't really be splashed although I could see myself putting in the Disembowl and Douse in Gloom. As it was though, I had a strong bunch of creatures with good acceleration and a handfull of tricks. Ofthen removal wasn't necessary as my guys were the biggest on the board and were backed by pump from Wildsize, Skarrg, and Ghost Warden.

I do think I made a deck constrution mistake in not including the Golgari Guildmage. Even without black he's a good guy. Also, with the Golgari signet and kharoo I'm second guessing myself even more about not going 4 color and splashing for my black goodies (or even dropping white to go more heavy black and get to use the Angel). Of course, without white I loose the Pollenbright Wings, Thundersong Trumpeter, Ghost Warden, and Harrier Griffin--three very solid creatures and a game winning enchantment which all mesh perfectly with my general plan of turning massive red-green men sideways. I feel it's a toss-up but leave a comment! Let me know what you think :).

How did the actual tournament go? Well I called in to record an audioblog entry after each round of the tournament, so I'll let them speak for themselves:
Round One vs Gereth (2-0)

Round Two vs Paul(2-0)

Round Three vs Ryan(2-1)

Round Four vs Zach(1-1-1)

So there you have it. An undefeated record with 11 Guildpact packs at the end.

Some impressions of individual cards:

Gruul Scrapper--I was really not impressed with Gruul Scrapper. He just never did anything amazing for me even when he came out with haste. He did fill a spot in my deck where I didn't have much action however.

Streetbreaker Wurm--Go go gadget cheaper Craw Wurm! A beatstick for sure.

Wild Cantor and Scorched Rusalka--Decent one drops on their own to start the beats flowing, amazing when you play Scab-Clan Mauler turn 2.

Ghor-Clan Savage--Another huge beatsitck. With the right deck its pretty easy to make sure this guy will always come out with his counters, just don't try to combo him with Spectral Searchlight :(.

Absolver Thrull--I didn't end up main decking these guys, but I almost always had targets for them and wish that I had. Since I had (almost) no enchantments the worst they could do is be a 2/3 dude. However with Pillory of the Sleepless hanging out with Faith's Fetters, as well as all the Magemarks (which I don't really think are worth playing) there are always targets out there.

Overall I had a great time and loved the set. It provides a lot of answers (like the absolver thrull) which I think makes for very interesting and more skill testing matches. I love the Gruul already, although I would really like to get my hands on some of the Izzet's toys. They look like a very fun guild as well (I really wish I would have had time to do a draft and force Izzet.dec). Ahh well, there's always the Magic Online prerelease in February.

One tech gadget down

2006-01-20T15:33:00.000-05:00

w00t! After much planning I finally headed out to the local Best Buy to pick up my bran spanking new 2GB Ipod Nano. I don't really have that much music :) but iTunes gift cards from my good buddy Chris and my parents as well as a Borders gift card are helping that along (I recently bought two audio books: The Five People You Meet In Heaven and A Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy as well as some music from iTunes).

One down off the 'ol wish list--now back to paying down student loans and putting money into ROTH-IRAs :(

Beatbox Giant Productions

2006-01-19T23:30:00.001-05:00

Beatbox Giant Productions

Absolutely hilarious. If you haven't seen the Ask A Ninja podcast, check them out. The next best thing to Real Ultimate Power.

Miles per Junior Bacon Cheeseburger

2006-01-19T19:59:00.000-05:00

I glanced at my bike's odometer today and it says that since I purchased my bike about six months ago (just a few days after I moved up here to the Washington area) that I've ridden a total of 548 miles. To be fair, the number is actually higher since I've definitely forgotten to put my speedometer/odometer back on a times. Recently though I've tried to be good about it since I want to get an accurate figure for just how much I ride on my commute to work.

Now there's two main reasons that I ride a bike to work. One is because it's good exercise, and two because it saves money. But just how much exercise, you ask? And just how much money? Well my friend, you've come to right place.

My average speed is about 9.6 miles per hour, I weigh around 135 lbs, so while riding my bike I burn about 381 calories per hour (or so I'm told).

Now, at 9.6 miles per hour, those 548 miles of riding equal about 57 hours on my bike or 21717 calories burned.

That's a big excess of calories that my daily torture has earned me! How will I spend this hoard of burned off calories you ask? I plan to cash in on them all by eating Junior Bacon Cheesburgers because according to Wendy's I've earned 59 of them (at 370 calories each).

But what's the cost? Well first how much do I save not driving an old junker around (we're dealing with gas costs only here--with no insurance or car payments of course it's even better)? The national average gas price is currently $2.32 per gallon (and this is being conservative because of the insanely high gas prices over the summer). According to wikipedia (which, incidentally we know is full of lies, but lets press on regardless) the average "car shaped object" gets 21 miles per gallon of city driving. So I've saved about 26 gallons of gas or about 60 bucks.

I suppose that's alright... but we're forgetting to take into account my bike's mpjbc! For the laymen out there, that's my "Miles Per Junior Bacon Cheeseburger" or how many delicious Junior Bacon Cheeseburgers I must consume to power my vehicle.

We said above that I've got to eat 59 burgers which, over those 548 miles of riding, works out to be just about 9.3 mpjbc--damn I'm a gas guzzler.

Regardless, buying those 59 burgers at 99 cents a pop is, well... about 59 dollars.

Meaning...

I saved a whole frigging buck fifty for my FIVE HUNDRED MILES OF BIKE RIDING!

There's a moral in here somewhere... but I've got an extra buck fifty of cheeseburgers to buy.

Wendy's: Best Economy Fast Food Meal Ever

2006-01-19T19:16:00.000-05:00

Junior Bacon Cheeseburger	$0.99
Medium Fries	$0.99
Water	$0.00
Total	$1.89

Extra Value Meals at most restaurants are a complete ripoff. First, you're buying a drink that probably costs only a little less than all the above items combined. Then, you usually have to get the largest fries or side available and often end up "upsizing" it anyway, tacking on a bit more...

Cheerios & Rasins

2006-01-19T08:32:00.000-05:00

Breakfast of Geoff

A Song of Ice and Fire

2006-01-18T22:37:00.000-05:00

I recently finished the second installment of George R. R. Martin's epic fantasy saga A Song of Ice and Fire. A Clash of Kings delivers the goods with the same page turning plot and lovable, hateable, interesting charecters which we met in A Game of Thrones.

I whole heartedly recommend the series to anyone.

BoardGameGeek

2006-01-18T21:09:00.000-05:00

www.boardgamegeek.com -- the internet hub for all things board game!

Tigris and Euphrates

2006-01-18T21:00:00.000-05:00

Tigris and Euphrates.

I'm currently playing any 8 contiguous play by email games through BoardGameGeek's free online service (if you're interested in the site itself I've got some comments on it here). I just keep joining games until it's my turn in one of them often enough that I don't go crazy waiting.

Dark Galaxy

2006-01-18T20:23:00.000-05:00

My home planet.

I've always been fond of browser based massivly multiplayer strategy games. The interaction with thousands of other people inevitably creates interesting diplomacy and the whole experience usually only requires a few minutes of attention each day to log on and make your move.

There's a new game starting on January 29th so I'm signed up and ready to give this old favorite another try.

Riding in the rain... on a cell phone...

2006-01-18T09:52:00.000-05:00

What a morning. Not only does my power go off in the middle of the night and fry my alarm clock (I hate my power company, but that's another story) but it's pouring outside. Now even for normal people, a dull, dreary, rainy morning is a pretty poor way to start off the day (it's no wonder researchers are using a Draw a Person in the Rain test to diagnose stress and depression--just my luck I'm sure the depressed people show someone riding to work through the rain on their bike). So, bad enough for normal people, really bad for someone without a car. So what could be a more perfect time for a little narative:

I ended up making it to work more or less in one piece, at which point the nifty barometer on my desk told me it was raining outside :(. If only my office had a window for me to throw it out of. Of course a window would force me to watch the rain all day...

Geoff

2006-01-18T00:35:00.000-05:00

Angry Turtle

2006-01-18T00:14:00.000-05:00

Photo courtesy of my dad :)