365.242 days a year!

More pew pew less ...

2008-10-05T00:55:00.000-04:00

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2008-08-21T19:18:00.000-04:00

Feet in the pond

2008-07-06T15:09:00.000-04:00

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2008-07-04T23:33:00.000-04:00

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2008-07-04T23:32:00.003-04:00

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2008-07-04T23:32:00.001-04:00

It's crazy here. Fog machines are awesome.

The Ludo Guy

2008-06-13T19:58:00.000-04:00

I totally forgot that i had this on my phone. Here's a phone shot I took of the Ludo guy. He's very cool and friendly.

Overheard In New Brunswick

2008-05-29T07:46:00.001-04:00

I overheard this little tidbit over dinner in New Brunswick last night:

Old Man to rambunctious kid: "Chill! You know what chill means?"
Rambunctious kid: "No!"
Old Man: "Well act like you do!"

OK, maybe not the funniest thing in the world, but I found it amusing.

World Of Warcraft Plugin

2008-05-28T12:14:00.002-04:00

I've added the ability to use item pop-ups form World of Warcraft data site WoW Head. This will allow me to put item information directly into the posts and pages. For example I got this nifty drop hanging around Un'Goro Crater: Taran Icebreaker

I've been contemplating breaking off the WoW info into a separate site for the Guild, but I think I'll leave it intertwined for now. I'll put it in the guild notes to see if the team wants to have their own site where they can each post. I'm sure that Paeen wouldn't mind posting about how I was so generous in handing him the Fiery War Axe.

For those of you who don't know... the purple color means they're Epic level items (which is a good thing).

I've also switched to a new theme for the site here.

Any feedback on the change is welcome.

A Bunch Of New Things

2008-05-23T13:27:00.001-04:00

It's been awhile since I've updated so I thought it'd be good to give a rundown of what's been going on.

Since my last update, works been keeping me busy traveling back and forth between the coasts. I think we're done traveling for a bit now though. I did get a nifty coin out of it though!

Hmmm... what else has been going on? I bought a bunch of new hotness in the gaming department (Rock Band, Grand Theft Auto 4, Wii Fit, On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One) and I've put a bunch of more time into playing WoW again. My guys have been sitting idle for a few weeks.

Vivendi leaked some data that the blizzard expansion for WoW, Wrath of the Lich King is going to be out by the end of 2008. I'm guessing probably somewhere in the late November time frame. With the new WoW expansion comes the first Hero Class in WoW, the Death Knight. To create a Death Knight you need a level 55 character on a server. As most of you know, I'm a very casual WoW player and I don't have any 55 dudes. So to get ready for WotLK, I've been leveling up my main hunter. He's sitting at 53 now and should have no trouble dinging 55 by that time. Now the conundrum is at 58 I can hop into Outland and score some better gear. I have the feeling that once I ding 55, the urge for 58 will be too compelling to pass up. Not that that's a bad thing.

Rock Band is a blast. We've held a few Rock Band parties and everybody seems to enjoy. Even a friend or two who are completely unfamiliar with the music in the game, can pick it up and chug along with many laughs. I really haven't touched it in a few weeks, but we really haven't had alot of people over. Also the drums are annoyingly loud, especially when you're playing by yourself.

Grand Theft Auto 4 is a godsend. The game is so gosh darn good. The story is more mature and more interesting. The characters have much more depth to them than previous games characters. The game looks damn good, even on my poor mans standard def tv. One complaint is that the text is basically unreadable on a standard def tv, that includes the cell phone. This is by no means a new issue on the 360 (and presumably the PS3), but I guess I'll have to deal until either game devs consider standard def tv people as viable customers or I get an HDTV. Aside from those issues, the game is near perfect. It's enjoyable to walk around the streets and see distinct people, carrying conversations with the people around them or on their cell phones chit chatting. The addition of built-in multi-player (no more mods woot!) is fantastic and fairly easy to use. It's integrated well with the main game play and it's accessible via cell phone. Much like how we generally initiate multi-player in the real world. I could go on and on about all the WOW moments I've had playing the game, but go out and try it or play it at a friends house to see for yourself. Judging by the sales numbers, you're probably not more than 2 degrees of separation away from somebody that has it. Hell, you bring a six pack and you can come play at my house. Call ahead to arrange time :)

Rock Star has tied GTA4 to their Social Club which has some nifty features and shows some overall stats. I dig when games have that depth of integration with the real world. WoW started doing that with the WoW Armory, but I wish companies would take it further. Like in GTA, I should be able to check my in-game email and maybe my text messages and what not, especially with my problems reading the text in-game. In WoW I'd love to be able to check how my auctions are doing and check any in-game mail.

Wii Fit is a blast. I've been trying to follow an exercise regime these past couple weeks and it's tough, but it makes me feel good. I picked up Wii Fit as soon as it came out, although I had to hit up a few stores before I found one that had available copies. I really want it to track my status over time, but the exercises and activities it comes with have their own fun. I like the balance exercises where you get to really see what the balance board peripheral can do in terms of game play. I plan on picking up We Ski soon as it integrates well with the balance board. After the balance games, I think yoga is probably my second favorite. I like the idea of doing the yoga poses while also having a visual indicator of my balance. A visual indicator, to me, is really helpful. I've always been awkward in trying to figure out if I'm aligned properly. After a few weeks of use, I'll have to remind myself to put an update as to how I've progressed. I know I always say I'll update and never do, but I'll do my best to remember this time.

On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One. This guy is unique. From the site:

"On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is an episodic RPG-adventure game series set in a deranged comic-book meets-pulp-horror 1920s universe. Armed with unconventional weaponry and witty repartee, you join forces with the Gabe and Tycho, the crime-solving team of the Startling Developments Detective Agency to make war on bizarre enemies and solve the mysteries hidden deep in the sinister heart of New Arcadia."

- playgreenhouse.com

If you didn't know already, this is a game that's been in the works for while. It's a creation of the dudes from Penny Arcade, a well known gaming web comic. It's the first game on their new game distribution site Green House, and it's pretty fantastic. It's got a funky setting and a funky style, and it works great. The games style is all comic book. Cut scenes are in classy 2D, and the game play is all 3D. It's got a diablo-esque left click interface. Combat is sort of Final Fantasy 7-ish, but it's not seperated from the main world. When a creature is defeated, it's smoking husk remains a smoking husk in front of you after combat. Not the mention the selflessly defiled fruit. I like that the combat offers a mechanism for blocking attacks. Successful blocks drasticly reduce the damage taken. I've got to cut in some time for this game between WoW, GTA, Wii Fit and Sudoku on Brain Age 2 to get deeper in. So far the dialog is great and the game play is fun. I'm excited about getting deeper into this one. My pal omlette, though, has had trouble getting the game to run. It will most often not load at all, and when it does, the mouse doesn't work. I hope that's something that can be remedied.

Some great movies have come out lately also. Namely Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I saw them both, and I enjoyed them both, but I'm not a movie critic so I won't get into the granularity of what I liked and didn't like about each. If you like good guys winning and kicking some bad guy ass, then you'll like these movies. Oh yes, Indy can still kick some ass. If you're looking for fancy-this or fancy-that or some other crap like that, then you're probably gonna like it anyway. Who doesn't like good guys winning and kicking some bad guy ass? Unless you don't have time to spare from chillin in starbucks writing wrist-slit poetry.

I've started to use Twitter as a way to keep people up to date as to whats going on with me, so feel free to check me out there. I'll probably throw up a Twitter widget or something on here as well. I'll have to see what plugins WordPress has for Twitter.

Mark is going to India for a month next month for work! Craziness, I know! Last weekend we took a trip down to Atlantic City to unwind. We had a great time. Harrah's turns their pool in to a club at night. Quite fantastic. That's gonna be the place to be in the summer time.

Saturday is a music fest in New York City. That should be fun! I like music!

This is a lot of text... congrats on reaching the bottom!

A Room With A View

2008-05-17T19:50:00.002-04:00

Here's the view from our room in Harrahs. They put us up in the new tower.

I’m expensive…. in bed!

2008-03-04T07:08:00.005-05:00

OOOOOOOH!

I love those jokes... except this time I'm dead serious.

Through statistically accurate and scientifically honed methods, I've been able to determine how much this ass would pull as a gigolo.

Powered By TheirToys

Yes, that's right. I can fetch upwards of $1,117 per hour!

And to top it all off, the page was topped off with this page topper: "Congratulations, you're worth MORE in bed than the average ($140.12880875522) person taking this quiz!"

The average person is only worth $140 per hour?! I thought I was gonna be on the low end of the spectrum. For so many years I've been short changing myself.

So ladies (sorry fellas, ladies only), you know the price, set up an appointment!

UPDATE: Looks like I'm getting some competition here! Either that or the short end of a looooong stick.

Look At Me!

2008-02-13T08:35:00.002-05:00

Getting some inspiration from my lady friend, I've decided to run a couple pics of me through the myheritage.com face recognition filter. It's given me some surprising results.

Keira Knightley? Come on... I look good, but not that good. Sean Connery I can deal with. Most of those people flatter me :) As you'll see below the Colin Farrell theme continues.

Nifty side note: I actually saw Jon Voight when work had me trucking around California. He was getting the pat down from TSA security.

Here we can see the repeat of Colin Farrell. I'm still flattered, but Usher?! I wish I could dance that good. At least now I know what the woman is talking about when she says I'm a sexy beast!

I'm in good company.

It's a fun site to play around on. Go enjoy! Leave some comments as to who YOU look like!

2 Accomplishments Achieved

2008-02-12T08:35:00.000-05:00

No... I'm not talking about on the Xbox 360. Besides, that'd be achievements accomplished anyway.

First Accomplishment achieved is I've gotten an apartment! I now live on my own in Highland Park, NJ with my lady love. Pics will be forthcoming once it's in a reasonable shape. I think a "Welcome to the new place" party will ensue at some point also.

Both of us are quite lazy and our schedules have been busy, and those are the excuses we're sticking with as to why we're not setup yet. We still have some furniture to get though. My dad called up yesterday to say he'd like to buy us a kitchen table and chairs and stuff. This may work out well.

Second Accomplishment achieved is that as of this morning I weigh less than 200 lbs! Woot for me! A steady, yet painfully slow process of telling my self to eat less and eat better has paid off so far. I've also switched from mostly regular soda to mostly diet soda. I think that played a big role. I will note that after spending most of my younger life as a scrawny 145, I enjoyed being a big guy. I was just big in the way that didn't benefit me so much. That is something I'd like to change. I wouldn't mind being 200-220 lbs if I was more impressive to look at.

Now I need to have some sort of plan for bulking up in an appropriate manner. Although, until that happens, I'd like to continue my downward trend to the 175 area of the scale. Maybe it's time to scope out craigslist for some weight-lifting gear.

Weight-lifting is such a funny phrase because it means so much yet it's so simple. Lifting weight. I would argue that everything you could possibly do involves lifting a weight of some kind... the weight of your arm, a pencil, 2 or 10 beers. They all have weight, they're all affected by gravity. Pumping blood through my body is a constant battle with gravity.

What spurred this post is a good conversation I had recently with my chica. She helped me understand the complex logic that whining about not getting anywhere in life doesn't actually get you anywhere in life. Mystifying to say the least! I think that'll be my Third Accomplishment achieved, maintaining such a satisfying relationship for so long.

I need to focus more of my free time on what I want to do in my life. Especially since work has been so hectic and focused these past couple days. I need an outlet. I've been playing a little WoW lately for relaxation. We got a good run last night with all 4 of our guildies! That'd leads to an Ancillary Accomplishment, which isn't really mine. Danny got his mount! Woots!

So that's where I've been... Oh one more thing.

MAN ALERT!

VALENTINES DAY IS THURSDAY!

New Content @ Databyss.com

2008-01-09T14:27:00.000-05:00

I've put up a few new pages on this site that are non posts.

I try to expand upon my interests so I can share them with other folks.

I put up a page about gaming, to discuss my interests in games, and I put up a page about programming to do likewise.

I have decided, as part of my focusing effort, that I am going put more effort into this site. I am going to use this platform as a public bulletin board for my progress, projects and projects progress.

One thing I have failed to mention so far is my work on a Google Chart Designer project. It's a small tool I am developing that provides a simple web (html/javascript) interface to building the URL's that are specified via the Google Chart API. I'm glad to say that as of right now, there have been 51 downloads of my project and less than 5 of those have been me.

That project also serves as my introduction to the world of open source programming, and using a cvs system for my personal projects. Generally I would manage source control for my own projects by using multiple directories.

New Year?

2008-01-07T09:45:00.000-05:00

Another new year? meh.

I feel like I've just woken up for the first time, but not in the good I-can-get-my-life-going kinda way. More along the wtf kinda way.

I've got no goals, no plans, no motivation and no money. I live to pay bills right now.

If I'm doing such a meager job at that, how can I expect myself to obtain anything better?

Is it relevant to my future?

Is my current situation indicative of my potential?

How do I get motivated?

Why should I be motivated?

I don't know what to do. I don't know what I can do.

I don't think I can do anything.

I'm not even sure I like who I am anymore.

I know what some of my problems are. How do I solve them?

I'm socially awkward, either too obnoxious or too quiet.

I can't carry a conversation if my life depended on it, everything I say always feels too forced.

I'm horrible at time management.

I don't talk to, or see my friends enough.

I don't put time into the hobbies I enjoy, or tell myself that I enjoy.

I'm not dedicated to any one thing.

A listing of my problems is too boring for even me to read.

I think what I need here is focus. I need to pick several areas to concentrate on. That to me is the difference between average folk and famous/notable folk.

Bill Gates is the Microsoft guy. I'm sure he likes other things as well, but his focus is Microsoft and that probably envelops 90% of his time. He will be leaving his full time roll soon and I think it will be interesting to see how he handles losing his focus.

Everybody who is known as 'that _____ guy/chick', is generally successful at that. Is it because they were successful first or because they were focused? Does it matter? They're there and they're focused on their topic. (grammar fun, notice the 3 proper uses of they're, there and their!)

I was really inspired today by a post from Jeff Atwood about Magpie Developers and the obsession with the new and shiny.

I need to stop trying to understand everything and focus on a few things.

Another new year sounds like the same old year to me...

Life stays the same regardless of our relative position in orbit around the sun.

Damn, after reading all this, I feel like tacos.

Wii Updates!

2007-11-12T10:02:00.000-05:00

It's been nearly a year, but a reader has provided some new information about this old post.

Nintendo has setup a page that provides some basic information about Wii updates.

I figured that while we were on the topic, this would be a good time to talk about my Wii experiences so far.

My Wii gets weekly use at a minimum. I've got a full time job, a lovely (yet demanding) woman, and a host of hobbies and interests that take up my time so game play hasn't been a large priority. I still get time in to play Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, mySims and run through many of the Virtual Console games I've got downloaded on the system. It's also fun to spin the globe around in the weather channel and see what the temperature is at the poles.

My Wii qualms come in the form of lacking online play. I've got Mario: Strikers but so many of my games lag out that I've given up trying. My buddy has been rocking in Madden, but the scoring system online is tipped in the favor of quitting instead of losing, so it's near pointless to play.

We've got Smash Bros. Brawl on pre-order and hopefully the on-line play in that will be on or above par with other console ventures.

Online play aside, a big aside, the quality and fun of my existing Wii library is incredible. I think that's the main reason it still gets so much play.

In the past month couple months I've picked up an XBox 360, so it does cut into the Wii time. This is to augment the not-so-greatness of Nintendo's online capabilities. This also has taken time away from some Wii action. Although I find that the games on the 360 are much shorter to beat. I just finished up Ace Combat 6 on hard and I'm working my way through expert. The online play is what I was looking forward to, but there just doesn't seem to be many people on.

I got Halo 3, but the pace for an FPS is abysmal. I don't mean pace of the story, I mean the actual live gameplay, so I don't really play that anymore. If I want quality FPS action, I'll stick to Metroid Prime 3: Corruption or Counter-Strike:Source.

So that's my spiel about the Wii Updates and my updates about the Wii.

Enjoy the holiday season and hit me up if you're looking for some friend codes to play Brawl when it comes out. I also keep my DS with me pretty much wherever I go, so if you're looking for some unique pokèmon or want to get some mario kart action, lemme know.

DigitalLife Summary

2007-10-10T10:51:00.001-04:00

There really isn't much new to report on the DigitalLife expo.

MC Frontalot was awesome as usual, his 2 sets were spectacular and drew a sizable crowd considering how sparse the floor was populated in general.

Here's a clip of the front performing the pr0n song recorded by a fellow fan:

And here's a clip I got of the front busting crazy dance moves on my cellaphone during the breakdown in Hassle The Dorkening:

I got some views of Guitar Hero 3 rocking, but there was far too large a crowd and far too little patience in me to wait. It looks and plays pretty much like Guitar Hero 2.

The counter strike tournament going on was interesting but mildly so. I could've sat and watched for hours, but I could do the same watching my bro play super mario bros.

There was some Halo 3 action kicking. I watched a little bit of that, but the game play is still very slow. I think coming from the fast paced world of PC FPS's, it will unfortunately always be so. I did pick up Halo 3, not at the convention... I didn't see anybody selling it there. It's fun, but not crazy good.

There was a decent sized free play area with some PS3's and 360's setup. I played some racing game on the PS3, not sure what it was called. It was surprisingly mediocre. The graphics weren't that fantastic, and the game play was standard.

The US Army was there showing off a new game, similar to America's Army, but for the 360, they also had a large simulator game, but while I was there, the line was far too long.

I think that covers all the interesting parts of DigialLife, I'll update this post it anything new shows up.

All my DigitalLife videos can be found here: On YouTube. While you're there, check out the young kid busting out some crazy DDR moves.

DigitalLife pre-summary

2007-09-29T09:11:00.000-04:00

So much to write about from yesterday, but today is beer fest day and I'm too tired right now to cleanup all the videos and images I got.

Expect more later!

DigitalLife part 2

2007-09-27T14:26:00.000-04:00

Word from on high has it that MC Frontalot will be performing at the DigitalLife expo on the very same day I am attending.

I urge anybody who has/hasn't seen/heard about the good MC to attend and witness glory. He's doing two short sets, one at 2PM and one at 5:30PM.

I've spread the word to some friends in the area about the expo, but it doesn't look like anybody else I know will be attending.

I will do my best to take some good pictures of what's going on.

I'll try to put up some YouTube footage from my celephone as well.

DigitalLife

2007-09-26T08:22:00.000-04:00

I was lucky enough to manage getting a free 4 day pass to the DigitalLife Event at the Javits Center in NYC through 1up.com. Now I need to decide which day(s) to go on.

I think I'll probably take a half day on Friday and head over after lunch.

There are a lot of events going on there, but I have to say I'm most interested in the gaming side of things.

There is the Pro-Am Gaming tournament with a $100,000 prize.

There should be tons of yet-unreleased games to demo. I hear that Guitar Hero 3 will be on display. I'm hoping to take a shot at the multi-player action going on there.

All in all it should be a good time.

XNA

2007-09-12T09:50:00.000-04:00

Last night I went through the process of installing all the software I needed to start deving on XBox 360. It took longer than I felt it should have to get all the download links for each part.

First I grabbed the XNA specific stuff and tried to install that. It wouldn't work with my copy of Visual Studio 2005 and requires Visual Studio C# Express.

After all that fun, I got all the specifics installed and fired up the IDE for the first time. Visual Studio C# Express has an annoying green tint to it.

So now that all the software is installed on my comp, I need a starting project.

I was thinking of pinball-ish type game. Should be simple enough.

We will see how my motivation turns out.

I picked up Drawn To Life for the DS for nak. Watching her play gave me a nifty game idea, that I may try to flesh out into an project.

What?!

2007-09-11T16:58:00.001-04:00

Who needs this kind of help? BestBuy is a silly store.

Game Development

2007-09-11T10:25:00.000-04:00

Some of my peoples know that I consider myself, very lightly now a days, a programmer.

It's always been a goal of mine to write some interesting and useful programs, but more specifically, I'd like to make some games.

I put out a couple small demo's to the Dark Basic community back in those days, but nothing too serious.

Currently though, there are some potential opportunities on the Horizon for me.

WiiWare was announced by Nintendo back in July, 2007 as a low budget, indie-developer solution for creating games on the Wii. I was ecstatic about this! I think of all the current consoles the Wii is my favorite. I've already had a few vague concepts floating around in my mind on what I could develop for the Wii using the unique control system.

On the Microsoft side, there's XNA. A set of tools and whatnot for developing games for the XBox360. I'm already familiar with Visual Studio and slightly so with DirectX so I've got a head start in that department, but I don't really have any motivation to dev anything for the 360. The Wii is clearly my preference.

Unfortunately, Nintendo is sparse on the info relating to WiiWare. Aside from the official announcement that it's coming, they haven't dropped any new info... cost, time frame, API's, etc.

The other problem is that I'm really a one man shop. Not terrible mind you, but it can be crippling when I come to a roadblock. I don't have many system programmer friends, they're mostly web guys. The ones that I do know aren't generally interested in doing this kinda work. I have found one, but I haven't really talked to him in ages (it seems anyway :))

Maybe the next step is to sit down and really flesh out a few of my ideas to see if they're truly feasible or if I'm just spinning my wheels on an unlikely goal.

Jam Sessions

2007-09-06T09:38:00.000-04:00

Jam Sessions is coming out Sept 11th on the Nintendo DS.

I'm very stoked.

As some of you may know, I would very much like to play guitar. Unfortunately, I don't have the time or motivation to progress beyond anything super basic.

Jam Sessions is my cure.

I've got it pre-ordered from GameStop, but I recently discovered that if you get it from BestBuy you get 3 extra songs... good songs too!

The standard track list is as follows (from 1up.com):

* Beck - Jackass
* Blind Melon - No Rain
* Johnny Cash - I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know
* Cheap Trick - Surrender
* Coldplay - Yellow
* Death Cab for Cutie - I Will Follow You Into the Dark
* Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone
* The Fray - Over My Head (Cable Car)
* Marvin Gaye - What's Going On?
* Jackson 5 - Never Can Say Goodbye
* Janis Joplin - Me and Bobby McGee
* Avril Lavigne - I'm With You
* Bob Marley - No Woman, No Cry
* Nirvana - The Man Who Sold the World
* Rascal Flatts - Life is a Highway
* James Taylor - How Sweet it Is (To be Loved by You)
* Amy Winehouse - You Know I'm No Good

And the BestBuy additional tracks are:

* Jimi Hendrix - Wild Thing
* Brad Paisley - I'm Gonna Miss Her
* Tom Petty - Needles and Pins

Now GameStop purchases come with a 1 year subscription to Spin magazine, but who cares? I need to rock out some Hendrix.

1up.com has a ton of info on Jam Sessions including articles and videos. Taking Back Sunday even has a go at it playing one of their songs electro-acousticly.

You can get more info on the official page at Ubisoft.

I'd like to conclude with <school-girl-squeal>EEP!</school-girl-squeal>

Multimedia message

2007-09-05T17:02:00.001-04:00

Dave!

2007-09-04T22:51:00.001-04:00

He has returned.. For the weekend atleast.

Tired?

2007-09-03T02:18:00.001-04:00

I know that ruth gets tired.

Fooding

2007-09-01T21:16:00.001-04:00

Ruth is truly a food sculptor.

Fight!

2007-09-01T20:52:00.001-04:00

Sisters battling for great justice!

Kitty!

2007-08-25T01:26:00.001-04:00

Kitty needs love too!

Tonight

2007-08-24T19:34:00.001-04:00

Tonight we prepare for glory!

Beer

2007-08-23T20:08:00.000-04:00

Beer is my good friend.

My food!

2007-08-23T19:40:00.001-04:00

I am eating this to celebrate erica's departure back to maine. Although it is more of a somber occasion as we will all miss erica.

Ruth!

2007-08-23T19:37:00.001-04:00

Some people can't help but devour the meat.

Birthday

2007-08-22T19:29:00.001-04:00

This is the aftermath of dinner from maria and my birthday. Yes, they had those fools sing for me.

Soup!

2007-08-17T22:37:00.001-04:00

I love soup. I never have it enough, but it is very delicious. I need to eat more soup!

Kitty!

2007-08-17T22:07:00.001-04:00

Kitty is getting old, but he's still kicking.

Let the mo-games begin!

2007-08-12T23:04:00.001-04:00

I am gonna try out this mobile blogging thing. Maybe i'll start updating more regularly.

Translating Bush on Libby

2007-07-03T11:54:00.000-04:00

President Bush made a statement today on his decision to commute the prison term of Lewis "Scooter" Libby. I have translated the original statement to show what he really meant. Such subtleties can be lost in such formal language.

Please enjoy:

The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today rejected Lewis Libby's request to remain free on bail while pursuing his appeals for the serious convictions of perjury and obstruction of justice. As a result, Scooters will be required to turn himself over to the Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his prison sentence.

I have said throughout this process that it would not be appropriate to comment or intervene in this case until Scooters’ appeals have been exhausted. But since my buddy might actually have to go to jail to cover my ass, I believe it is now important to make sure he suffers no real consequences.

From the very beginning of the investigation into the leaking of Valerie Plame's name, I made it clear to the White House staff and anyone serving in my administration that I expected full cooperation with the Justice Department as long as they didn't reveal any important information. Dozens of White House staff and administration officials dutifully cooperated.

After the investigation was under way, the Justice Department appointed United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Patrick Fitzgerald as a Special Counsel in charge of the case. Mr. Fitzgerald is a highly qualified, professional prosecutor who carried out his responsibilities as charged.

This case has generated significant commentary and debate. My allies have been critics of the investigation. They have argued that a special counsel should not have been appointed, nor should the investigation have been pursued after the Justice Department learned who leaked Ms. Plame's name to columnist Robert Novak. It makes sense. Why should he be accountable for his crimes after another person was guilty of another crime?

Furthermore, my friends point out that neither Scooters nor anyone else has been charged with violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act or the Espionage Act, which were the original subjects of the investigation. Frankly, I believe that if you're not charged with one crime, you shouldn't be charged with any others either. It just doesn't make sense.

Finally, we say the punishment does not fit the crime: Scooters was a first-four-time offender with years of experience as crony. He's been with my pal Wolfowitz for the past 25 years. He was handed a harsh sentence simply because he was convicted of 1 felony count of obstructing a federal investigation, 1 felony count of making false statements to F.B.I. Investigators and 2 felony counts of perjury before a grand jury when we all know his only crime was love. Love for his country and for his fellow Americans. If that isn't a good reason to lie to the F.B.I. and a grand jury, then I don't know what is. Well, I can think of a few other reasons, but they're not appropriate for comment right now.

Others point out that a jury of citizens weighed all the evidence and listened to all the testimony and found Scooters guilty of perjury and obstructing justice. They argue, correctly, that our entire system of justice relies on people telling the truth. And if a person does not tell the truth, particularly if he serves in government and holds the public trust, he must be held accountable. They say that had Scooters only told the truth, he would have never been indicted in the first place.

Both, my friends and the American people have made important points. I have made my own evaluation. In preparing for the decision I am announcing today, I have carefully weighed these arguments and the circumstances surrounding this case.

Scooter was sentenced to thirty months of prison, two years of probation, and a $250,000 fine. In making the sentencing decision, the district court rejected the advice of the probation office, which recommended a lesser sentence and the consideration of factors that could have led to a sentence of home confinement or probation. I believe that while it's appropriate to imprison the brown or the poor Americans for minor crimes for far longer than 30 months, my friends shouldn't be subjected to the same standards.

I it's nice to say that I respect the jury's verdict, I don't. The justice system that all Americans are subject to just doesn't work for me and my friends. I'm sure the American people can trust me to dole out fair and just punishment for myself and my pals. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Scooters’ sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison.

My decision to commute his prison sentence leaves in place very little punishment for Scooter's. The reputation he gained through his years of public service and professional work in the legal community is enhanced by his ability to escape any accountability for his actions. His wife and young children have also suffered immensely. He will remain on probation. The miniscule fines imposed by the judge will remain in effect. The consequences of his felony convictions on his former life as a lawyer, public servant, and private citizen will be not matter much. I will likely pardon them at the end of my term anyway. He's already joined the Hudson Institute as a senior advisor.

The Constitution gives the President the power of clemency to be used when he deems it to be warranted, and frankly, I deem it warranted. It is my judgment that a commutation of the prison term in Scooter's case is an appropriate exercise of this power. Heck, I deem any exercise of my power warranted, constitutionally granted or not.

Thank you for your time.

Nintendo Wii Updates Are A Secret

2006-12-19T15:05:00.000-05:00

================================
UPDATE (11/12/2007): A reader going by "mark" left a comment below providing a link to a Nintendo page that provides update information on patches: http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/wii/en_na/systemMenuFeatures.jsp Thanks for the info mark!
================================

I love my Wii. I think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. I think it will eventually be better than sliced bread once they develop BreadSlicer for the Wii.

I have an issue though. I would like to know what the patches are modifying in the system that I bought. Since the Nintendo website is rather sparse when it comes to useful information, I filled out the request for information form on the site.

Is there a web site that I go to where I can view what each of the updates for the Wii does?
I'd like to see a specific list of features modified by each patch.

Thanks in advance

Approximately 5 days later I get the following automated response with no useful information and a reminder not to kill anybody with the wiimote.

Hello and thank you for contacting Nintendo,

Normally, we would be able to provide a specific answer for you. However, the overwhelming response to our new console has been such that doing so would mean waiting several days to hear back from us.

Having said that, I am confident that the answer to your question can be found on our Wii-dedicated website (http://wii.nintendo.com), which contains all of our official information and announcements regarding the system.

You will also find a wealth of information regarding Wii set-up, troubleshooting, and how-to's on our new Wii Support Website (http://support.nintendo.com). If you have visited both of these websites, I encourage you to keep checking back as we are regularly updating them with new information.

If you are still unable to find an answer to your question, you're welcome to reply to this message. We will try to get you a more specific response in a timely fashion although--as I alluded to above--it may take a while. If you do reply to this message, please be sure to include your original request and this response.

One more thing, please check out our important safety information for playing Wii on the following web page:

http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/wiiplay.jsp

On behalf of Nintendo, I appreciate your patience and understanding.

Thank you for your e-mail.

Nintendo of America Inc.
Nintendo Employee's Name

Nintendo's home page: http://www.nintendo.com/
Power Line (Automated Product Info): (425) 885-7529

I follow up that reply stating that the response was useless and 17 days later I get the following message:

Hello,

At this time no such list is available to the public.

Sincerely,
Nintendo of America Inc.
Another Nintendo Employee's Name

Nintendo's home page: http://www.nintendo.com/
Power Line (Automated Product Info): (425) 885-7529

I guess maybe they're right... I just don't deserve to know what they're doing to my $250 toy.

I've always been a supporter of the big N. I hope they make this information public soon.

P.S. If any Nintendo people are reading this... how about some MegaMan love for the Virtual Console.

Common Corrections

2006-04-26T09:59:00.000-04:00

MB != Mb != mb

MB = Mega Byte = 1,048,576 Bytes = 8,388,608 bits

Mb = Mega Bit = 1,000,000 bits = 125,000 Bytes

mb = Milli Bit = Nonsensible. You can't have fractions of of a binary digit.

They're != Their != There

They're = They are (They're here.)

Their = Implies Ownwership (Their car is blue.)

There = Location (Tom is there.)

It's != Its

It's = It is (It's cold outside.)

Its = Implies Ownership (The tiger belongs in its cage.)

New Years Updates

2006-01-04T09:52:00.000-05:00

It's the start of a new year and that means a time of introspection and planning.

Most people use this time to review what they've done and how they've been treated and make adjustments to get to where they've like to be. I'm no better than anybody else, so I'll do the same.

My first realization is that this sort of activity should be done more than once a year... maybe monthly or quarterly. Maybe some random interval not tied to the rotation of the Earth around the Sun.

I've been exceedingly lazy this past year, yet somehow I've managed to obtain a good paying job at a good company with good co-workers. Now it's time to excel at my job and earn the recognition that I deserve. That sounds very conceited, but it needs to. If I don't think highly of myself then nobody else will either.

Now that I've obtained a good job, it's time to put more time and effort into all those things that I've neglected in the past. All those things that I said I needed to get a good paying stable job to start working on.

I spent all of high school weighing 145lbs (65.7kg). At college I jumped to 165lbs (74.8). Now I have become a fat man. Well, much fatter that I've ever been, 224lbs (101.6 kg). This situation needs to be remedied. I've begun a mild diet of simply cutting out calories and I've lost 5lbs so far. Not bad, but progress has slowed, partly due to the holidays and partly due to my laziness.

Mild exercise alone will not get me into the shape I want to be in. I need to begin exercising. As a matter of fact, I want to join a gym where I can lift weights. I've decided that I want to get jacked. I have the weight needed to build muscle, weight I've never had before, now I just need to start building it.

I am a smart man. er... I used to be a smart man. I have done very little programming in the past year. This situation needs to be rectified. Part of the problem, well part of my excuse, is that I'm not very creative when it comes to developing ideas for new programs. Now, I have tons of ideas and it's time to act.

In this area, I really have to credit Lord Omlette for being a huge inspiration. In addition to randomly opening my eyes to new things that can be helpful and new ideas and programming languages (Haskell for instance), his work and tales of woe in PhD land are also inspiration.

There are also alot of activities I'd like to start doing outside the computer world. I'd like to start camping again... going on day hikes... canoeing. Get back into snowboarding some more. Give my scuba diving license some use! Maybe even find some new things to do.

I'd also like to do some travelling. I've been to a few places, but not as much as I'd like. And not necessarily out of the country, but that could be fun too. I have to get my passport first though. I'd just like to go around and gain some new life experiences. I think that's really the allure of travel for most people.

With all these new things I'd like to do it doesn't seem like I'll have much leisure time, but gaming is something that's definately on my to-do-more list. It's not really a time killer for me. I wouldn't play a game if I didn't feel that I wanted to. Games are more of an escape for me. A chance to do things I don't normally do and to have new experiences. Most of the games I play are online games and give me a chance to interact with different people all over the world. That's exciting and fun to me.

My job is good, the money I make is good. Now to make more. Does that sound a bit greedy? I guess it does. I've got bills to pay and most of my money goes to paying bills with some left for wasting and eating food. I wouldn't mind a bit of extra cash to help fund the other things I want to do.

I can make webpages, I can do some programming and general computer stuff. If you want stuff done please contact me. :)

Over the past year I've spent most of my time selfishly. I haven't been around for my friends as much as I should be. Whether I've been home or at Rutgers or elsewhere, I've focused much of my time on myself. In effect, I feel that I've neglected most everybody important in my life and for that I am sorry. I have some of the greatest friends in the world and they deserve much better. Friends... Family... and even The Greek. That last one might sound suprising to alot of people... even myself, but I feel that I haven't been all that I should be.

My last acknowledgment is to be happy with myself. Alot could be said about this, but I'll just leave it at that. I recommend this be on everybody's to-do-more list.

define: Nerdcore

2005-12-20T09:11:00.000-05:00

MC Frontalot rocks!

... ehem...

MC FRONTALOT ROCKS!

As mentioned earlier, I caught the Frontalot show at Crash Mansion in NYC.

The performance was tight... with multiple capitals and other assorted exclamations.

Nerdcore Hiphop Could Reign Supreme!

It was most of the usual crew but drummer, The Categorical Imperative, was missing and in his place sat Venom. Still, the sound was dead on. The rhymes were flawless, and the witty stage banter was exquisite. Gminor7 (Gm7), pwned his keyboard and assorted equipment many times over with his solid mastery of musical might, and his singing added that extra bit of polish to the show. Black Lotus, was a bass bashing behemoth of brobdingnagian proportions! The sounds generated by BL were far beyond anything that any bass has ever produced evar... EVAR! A few new songs of the new album, Nerdcore Rising, were performed. A few of the classics were thrown in. It's a shame the crowd wasn't as large as it usually is for the Front... alot of people missed a great show.

My only problem was with Crash Mansion itself. The downsized the drink size and made naught a change to the prices. Although, I only drank beer there, my homie companion was shafted. Even with that, the place is awesome inside, and the door guy had an awesome british accent.

After the show I obtained, for myself, one (1) signed copy of the aforementioned album which quickly made it's shiny spinning way into my cars CD player. I rocked that out all the way to Union City and then to New Brunswick. The old songs are masterfully remade and the new songs are killer. I think my favorite new bit of ear candy is the beat on "This Old Man". The collaboration on the title track, Nerdcore Rising, with Jesse Dangerously and MC Hawking was awesome. A little mc chris would've made it a nerdcore bonanza!

If you haven't heard the new songs, the buy the album. If you are a VSP, you can get some of the new material on the boards.

If you like music for being music, you'll love this album. If you enjoy witty words being weaved in wonderful ways, you'll love this album far more than you enjoyed my pathetic attempt at alliteration. If you love hiphop, you'll love this album.... even if you aren't into comps and tech.

Go buy it at amazon.

Conversations With http://www.wikipediaclassaction.org/

2005-12-13T09:07:00.000-05:00

I recently had the joy of finding this little nugget of internet fun: http://www.wikipediaclassaction.org/

I felt obligated as a good internet citizen to engage in conversation with whomever was behind this situation.

The following hiliarity ensued...

================================
ME:
Your class action lawsuit has to be one of the most terrifying acts against the internet that I have seen.

The blatant disreguard for first amendment rights is chilling.

First off, Wikipedia is a site that claims no authority of fact over any topic and they make it clear that what you find may not be factual.

Anybody can change/modify/edit a Wikipedia entry. So the 4 months of hard work and anguish, that you mention on your site, that was suffered by John Seigenthaler could've been fixed by 5 minutes of editing the entry.

Maybe you are unware that the internet is full of false information and that it is not a trusted source of information.

I find it scary how close your agenda falls inline with that of the Iranian president and also that of Fidel Castro who think the internet needs to be censored because it contains too much information that they claim is false because it disagrees with them or is defamatory towards them.

To be honest, I had no idea who this John Seigenthaler person was until his story about being "attacked" by Wikipedia. Glad to see that I wasn't missing out on anything important.

I hope for the quick demise of your lawsuit so that the internet can continue to be what it always has been.

A bastion of free speech.

Good Day Sir.

Response:

Hello,

You do not understand the principals at work here, so perhaps, it is
best for you to sit this one out on the side.

Why must I become involved in your website? If there is offending or
inaccurate content, about me, my business or family, why should I be
required to become a user and edit the content?

I am interested to learn why you thought I would be interested in your
comments.

Regards,

Me:
First a correction, I think you mean "principles" and not "principals".

On the contrary, I think I understand the principles quite well.

If you are a figure of public interest then you are already part of general information. As hard as I searched, I could not find myself in Wikipedia. If Mr. Seigenthaler wished not to be in the public eye, then I would recommend a career outside of the media.

Should we not discuss public figures on the internet unless we can be sure 100 percent that what we say is factually accurate? That would be ridiculous. That's not even a requirement of what we see on television or read in news papers.

I can't help but find one thing ironic. Mr. Seigenthaler is a journalist who himself reports information that may or may not be accurate, yet becomes enraged when he finds inaccurate information about himself. Although, this isn't strictly about him. His publicity and fame is just the snowball that started this avalanche of garbage.

I can't help by find myself amused by your last comment:

"I am interested to learn why you thought I would be interested in your comments."

Let me provide some more information to in addition to it's raw comedic content. I found your website though some of the internet news sources that would be destroyed if you lawsuit were to proceed. Also, I found it important enough to state my opinion. Such is your freedom to ignore my comments as you like, but you reading them was showing your interest.

Again, Good Day Sir.
================================

After some research it turns out that the site is run by a Mr. Greg Lloyd Smith whom has a sordid history.

MC Frontalot Live!

2005-12-12T13:47:00.000-05:00

Saturday Dec 17th
Crash Mansion
199 Bowery @ Spring
New York City
9PM
21+, ten bucks

Be there or be... not there.

He always puts on a good show and Crash Mansion is a really really nice looking place on the inside.

Drinks there are usually on the high side in quality and price.

I'll be there with the usual crew hopefully.

Frustrated

2005-09-08T15:28:00.000-04:00

This makes Bush's response to Katrina that much more shameful:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/5/134849/2070

Although you'd think Bush's guys would have experience with something like this:

http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/000246.htm

Atleast their using the victims for something good:

http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/2005/09/join-us-homeless-confused-people.html

I am poor.

2005-07-11T14:16:00.000-04:00

I spent too much money this past week/weekend.

GeoGirl came home for the weekend, and much partying ensued. I don't think one night was spent at home.

Now, I normally hate going bowling, and Ice will get mad at me, but I went this weekend. Though I can't remember the day. I didn't bowl though, I just consumed mass quantities of beer. I think that night we hit up The Breakfast Club. An 80's themed club in Old Bridge which consists of little more than a mediocre bar and an open area for which to dance upon. I think I could have a kick ass club if I rented a busted down shack, painted everything black, dropped in huge speakers hooked up to a laptop with winamp or something and threw in some kegs.

It was fun there... drinks were too expensive though and the lady selection wasn't that interesting. Rey wasn't allowed in because he didn't have sleves on his shirt. So I guess the place has some standards. Though he didn't mind. He lives 2 minutes from it.

Oh, btw, I don't know what I'm doing on the dance floor, but I don't mind standing out there bopping around for a bit. Otherwise the woman yells at me. To be honest, she'll yell at me either way, cause that's what she does.

Saturday dakotah, root and meagan went to Jenks. The gents were invited, but they were too busy loosing money to each other to want to party with hot chicks. So freaking packed. I think NJ has the largest population of New Yorkers outside of NY.... and they are very unwanted. The place was filled with hundreds of goombas with goku hair and popped up collars. I've never seen such a large group of people look so dumb, yet think they look so awesome.

We danced for an hour, but it was too crowded to continue. We stook outside overlooking the ocean for a little bit having some drinks for the rest of our time there. Hit up a diner afterwards somewhere near Colts Neck. Good burger! Then we went home.

Sunday I went home to relax. Did my laundry. IceInferno was generous enough to take me and his woman out to dinner. Good burger! I need to eat things other than burgers.

Leveled up Ion Beam to 13 last night. Fired up some counter-strike for abit. After playing CoH for the past couple months pretty exclusively, I have to say it was good to grab the m4, creep around a corner and blast away a few T's. I did better than I thought, but the servers are different than they used to be. The kids are still getting younger of course, which in turn means I am getting older.

In one month and 11 days I hit the quarter-century mark. Damn I'm getting old.

Oh Noes!!

2005-07-01T12:38:00.000-04:00

Supreme Court Justice O'Connor is retiring. The end is now nearer.

Bush is gonna shove in his bible bearing buddies and you can say good by to abortion, gay marriage and anything else bush doesn't like... like freedom.

I doubt the democrats will have the organization and power to stop bush from steam rolling in whomever he wants. He said he'll get somebody in before October.

Rhenquist is likely to leave soon too. BOO! I was hoping these peeps would hold on for another few years so the next president would get to pick, but I understand their reasons for leaving. Both are going through tough personal matters.

Fare ye well O'Connor, Rhenquist and freedom.

Ladies that are fat, ladies that are skinny!

2005-06-30T14:09:00.000-04:00

Ladies that are all night on my jimmy!

Saw mc chris last night! Pretty good show. Dirtbike Annie was a good punk band. Of course the chick singer isn't with them anymore, but they still rocked it.

Some arse in the crowd was annyoing... kept pushing his way through people to get pictures.

mc chris rocked it though... he did some songs that I haven't heard before, which was cool, and he played the classics like "Fetts Vette", "Geek", "10 year old" and "Fuckin up my christmas". Much fun was had. The place was maxwells in hoboken. Small cramped space, way too expensive drinks and loads upon loads of pained emo kids and neo-punks that don't know what punk is. All that was still worth it to see the mc in action.

Tonight is Beto's birthday! Happy Birthday!

Iceinferno got a new blog, so you should go over there and cast your opinions on some imminent tattooificationing.

Databyss.net is dead, got my name hijacked the second it expired even though it was set to auto-renew... i guess they didn't renew fast enough.

Databyss.com is gonna be up and running soon. Right now there's just a link to email me and my host Greater Web Design. If you need some hosting, go check them out. I do the programming and design myself, but if you need it, he can build it from scratch for you.

Whats up on politics:

Republicans trying to remove the 2 term presidential limit.
Cheyney said insurgency is in the last throes, Rumsfield said this last throe could last 12 more years.
13+ Dead soldiers in the helicopter attack. Still looking for 7 more.
Gay marriage legal in 4+ countries now, including Canada and Spain.
Bush to double aid to Africa.
Big hotdog eating contest coming up soon.
Trade Center tower replacement now officially lamed out.

Nifty quote of the post:

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.
- Samuel Johnson

It's Me!

2005-04-29T10:54:00.000-04:00

Howdy, Been awhile since I've posted, although I doubt anybody reads it anyway.

I went to a work-related conference yesterday in NYC. Had much fun, but the conference was hella lame. It turned into a 6 hour sales pitch.

Took the train to Hoboken then the path in. Ran into the most interesting person on the path. She was hollerin about how the end is coming. Stock market will disappear by 2020, everybody will be in massive debt and never be able to get out. Never leave a paper trail, buy everything with cash! Don't get married! You never know if your partner is in debt! Don't use any banking!

I miss living in Hoboken... they have the good crazy's!

OK so conference... right... very boring presentations. Although, I have to say that oracle has got the right idea. Have a hot chick present for you. It's easier to stay awake that way. Open bar for coctail/networking hour, but we were tight for time, so we didn't stay there long.

I had forgotten to bring my cell phone with me. If I brought it, I might have been tempted to stay in Hoboken for another hour or so to see if LO was interested in a drink or two. I didn't, so I just hopped on the train to come back.

Got back in time for horrible parkway traffic. BOO! Although I got to Rutgers just in time for free parking. I tried to reconnect to my home computer, since I redid the settings on my router and double checked on my computer, but no luck. :( I really need to get home for some time to update the webchatster so I can add post capabilities. Maybe a special command that's tied to my email address that lets me update the code from anywhere... that'd be hot. So many possibilites!

Anyway, peace out.

2005-03-01T12:10:00.000-05:00

And it kept falling!

2005-03-01T12:09:00.000-05:00

The snow fell!

2005-02-14T17:44:00.000-05:00

I would kill for this car.

E1itegod

2005-02-04T05:29:00.000-05:00

I had a good talk with E1itegod tonight. He's in Iraq and getting settled into his camp. He says that so far things are pretty quite by him and he, most likely, will not be leaving camp.

All of this is good news for me. I'm glad to hear that he's ok and will, hopefully, remain safe.

I have his mailing address there so if anybody wants to send him a package or something, let me know.

Iraqi Election

2005-02-02T01:39:00.000-05:00

There were elections in Iraq. WoO0T!

Howdy Folks

2005-01-18T22:26:00.000-05:00

Let's give this blogspot a run and see how it works.