So, as I listen to the radio here at work, I am getting bombarded today with radio ads for a "free trip to Vegas" promotion. All you have to do is answer a trivia question. Yesterday's question was...
How many dwarves does Snow White hang out with?
A) 19
B) 13
C) 7
Today's brain-bender is...
You might listen to songs on your iPod or MP3 player, but back in the day you listened to songs on big black discs. What were these made out of?
A) Copper
B) Sterling Silver
C) Vinyl
Wow - that is a tough one...what could a big BLACK disc be made of? Silver maybe? Or is it Copper?
I'm wondering just how stupid people have to be to actually fall for these things - I mean, somebody has to, right?
I'm half-tempted to just call in and give the obviously wrong answer - just to see what happens. I am sure it's automated, which might kind of kill the fun. Imagine arguing with an operator because you are absolutely positive that old records were made of sterling silver...
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
SPORE!
I bought Spore. It's been very fun so far. There are a few shortcomings, which I may detail in another post, but on the whole I have found the game to be an enjoyable play. I will try to get a review of it up on GameSpot soon, and cross-post it here.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Spore Temptations
So, for those not "in the know", Spore came out on Sunday. The game is basically a simplified RTS game that plays out in 5 stages, where you control the evolution of your creature from single celled organism through space exploration. Each stage plays out separately, but I believe there is some tie-in between the stages. You get to customize not only your creature, but also your vehicles and buildings as well. The customization runs very deep, as can be seen just from the free version of the creature creator.
This game has had a TON of hype surrounding it for quite some time now, but it was always on the back-burner for me, if on any burner at all. But finally last week I took the plunge and downloaded the free creature creator. While I didn't spend DAYS on the thing like many people have, I still found it wildly entertaining and have put together at least half a dozen crazy creatures. I am far from the best creature-creator, as my creations tend to be slightly derivative, but it's still a fun venture. Even with the limited options of the free version, I've managed to sink a couple hours into it.
Now I am starting to wonder if I should go for it and buy the game. I am not an RTS fan by any stretch of the imagination, but the way this game is presented as a simplified version of an RTS game appeals to me. My OCD doesn't focus on games like a true RTS fan's does, but I have been mildly amused in the past by games such as SimCity. The smaller (yet at the same time much larger) scope of Spore feels like it might offer me the best of both worlds. It won't require the meticulous attention that a full time RTS does, but it will give a similar feel, while offering limitless creative options. Also, I feel like it might be a fun adventure to control the evolution of your creature from single-cell organism to space explorer. I am just not sure I feel like it'd be $50 worth of fun.
So, to Spore or not the Spore? That is the question!
This game has had a TON of hype surrounding it for quite some time now, but it was always on the back-burner for me, if on any burner at all. But finally last week I took the plunge and downloaded the free creature creator. While I didn't spend DAYS on the thing like many people have, I still found it wildly entertaining and have put together at least half a dozen crazy creatures. I am far from the best creature-creator, as my creations tend to be slightly derivative, but it's still a fun venture. Even with the limited options of the free version, I've managed to sink a couple hours into it.
Now I am starting to wonder if I should go for it and buy the game. I am not an RTS fan by any stretch of the imagination, but the way this game is presented as a simplified version of an RTS game appeals to me. My OCD doesn't focus on games like a true RTS fan's does, but I have been mildly amused in the past by games such as SimCity. The smaller (yet at the same time much larger) scope of Spore feels like it might offer me the best of both worlds. It won't require the meticulous attention that a full time RTS does, but it will give a similar feel, while offering limitless creative options. Also, I feel like it might be a fun adventure to control the evolution of your creature from single-cell organism to space explorer. I am just not sure I feel like it'd be $50 worth of fun.
So, to Spore or not the Spore? That is the question!
Monday, September 8, 2008
It's Football Season, You Know What That Means...
...bring on the impotence drug commercials! That's right, it's time for the new season of those delightful erectile dysfunction commercials. I know that nothing says "Sunday afternoon" to me like a couple dozen commercials about how a new pill can keep you ready for when the moment is right! Of course, the right moment might cause headaches, nausea, or explosive diarrhea, but that's a small detail!
I expect a big season out of the impotence drugs this year. I mean, it's been a while since Viagra was released, so maybe they are starting to lose a little bit of steam now. But I think this could be a big year for the dong drugs - hopefully they can get back to form, because who can forget that particularly romantic commercials featuring the guy in his back yard continuously firing a football through the tire swing. And who can forgot that charming couple sitting in their bathtubs along the sea? I mean, who doesn't take baths outside by the sea all the time? I know I do.
I think that what this really speaks to is the link between the growth of popularity of Fantasy Football and the apparently epidemic level of erectile dysfunction in this country. It seems like the only commercials on during football games now are for Fantasy Football and for ED drugs. Is this a coincidence? I think surely not. Based on the number of ED commercials I see during your average football game, I am estimating that roughly 80% of men in the US suffer from ED. Which means I feel sorry for my 4 closest friends. But don't worry guys, you'll be rifling that football through the tire again soon, you just have to consult your doctor and be healthy enough for sexual activity!
I expect a big season out of the impotence drugs this year. I mean, it's been a while since Viagra was released, so maybe they are starting to lose a little bit of steam now. But I think this could be a big year for the dong drugs - hopefully they can get back to form, because who can forget that particularly romantic commercials featuring the guy in his back yard continuously firing a football through the tire swing. And who can forgot that charming couple sitting in their bathtubs along the sea? I mean, who doesn't take baths outside by the sea all the time? I know I do.
I think that what this really speaks to is the link between the growth of popularity of Fantasy Football and the apparently epidemic level of erectile dysfunction in this country. It seems like the only commercials on during football games now are for Fantasy Football and for ED drugs. Is this a coincidence? I think surely not. Based on the number of ED commercials I see during your average football game, I am estimating that roughly 80% of men in the US suffer from ED. Which means I feel sorry for my 4 closest friends. But don't worry guys, you'll be rifling that football through the tire again soon, you just have to consult your doctor and be healthy enough for sexual activity!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
The King of Sweden...
...is trying to poison me!
Every once in a while, I will notice that there is an odd and bitter taste on my lips. For a while, I thought it might be somehow related to my abuse of the Dust Destroyer Compressed Gas Duster in my office. You know, slowly poisoning myself because I like to turn the can upside down to freeze stuff.
But, it turns out that the bitterness is coming from my water mug (coffee mug full o' water). My "By Appointment of His Majesty The King of Sweden" mug. Of course, when I explained this to my co-workers, they suggested it is likely just the glaze on the mug, but I know better.
Of course, Bryan suggested that maybe the King is just trying to build up my immunity so he can send me on a secret mission. So, maybe I'll get a silenced pistol and an Aston Martin now.
So, do I keep risking poison hoping it turns me into a spy?
Every once in a while, I will notice that there is an odd and bitter taste on my lips. For a while, I thought it might be somehow related to my abuse of the Dust Destroyer Compressed Gas Duster in my office. You know, slowly poisoning myself because I like to turn the can upside down to freeze stuff.
But, it turns out that the bitterness is coming from my water mug (coffee mug full o' water). My "By Appointment of His Majesty The King of Sweden" mug. Of course, when I explained this to my co-workers, they suggested it is likely just the glaze on the mug, but I know better.
Of course, Bryan suggested that maybe the King is just trying to build up my immunity so he can send me on a secret mission. So, maybe I'll get a silenced pistol and an Aston Martin now.
So, do I keep risking poison hoping it turns me into a spy?
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
iPod Troubles
So, those that know me probably already know my feeling on Macs. I won't get into that right now. The only Apple product(s) I own are iPod(s). I use parentheses because I actually own two, but one of them is currently being used by Leesa after hers crapped out. For Christmas, PARTsolutions was nice enough to gift me with an 8 GB iPod Touch. So far, it has been really handy in its limited use.
The reason it gets limited use is that as cool as the touch screen is, it is impractical for most of what I use an iPod for. Mostly, I use my iPod at the gym, and I don't want to listen to every song on there, but I don't really make many playlists. So my general procedure is to put it on shuffle, and every time a song comes on I don't want to listen to, I just hit the skip button until I come to a song I want.
The problem with the touch screen, then, is that I have to look at the iPod to use the skip. Of course, I usually have to slide the little bar to unlock it too. With the Nano, I just reach down, press the button, and voila, next song. It's so much quicker and easier WITHOUT the touch screen to me. The Touch is really great, but only when I am in a static state. On a plane ride, for example, it is exquisite. The best feature of the Touch is that it has a large screen for watching movie and TV. Definitely a lifesaver.
The other beautiful feature of the iPod is that it works. Simply. Bring your music into iTunes, plug in your iPod, and magically all your music is there for you to enjoy. However, this morning, for whatever reason, my iPod Touch did not want to work. Now, it might have been something else I was doing, but it was a definite breakdown in the ease of use. When I plug in the pod, I want it to sync to whatever is in my current iTunes library. This morning, I had roughly 4.6 GB of videos and 2.6 GB of music in my iTunes. For you math majors, that's 7.2 GB worth of stuff for an 8 GB iPod. Should have plenty of room for everything, right? Wrong. It kept telling me that I didn't have enough space.
Surely this was just a mistake, and easily fixed, right? Well, I unplugged it, plugged it back in (my IT solution for everything), same message. Now, I had some videos on the iPod already that I had deleted from my iTunes, because I was done with them and wanted them gone. But for whatever reason, it didn't want to get rid of them and put the new ones on there. It was simply fixed by just deleting them from the iPod. But I seem to remember in the past that it would all be done automagically.
The other breakdown I have seen with the iPod, and again I do not know that it is really the fault of the iPod, is that it is a huge pain to get videos onto it. All the videos I have are in AVI format, and they have to be converted to mpeg4 to work on my iPod. This is actually a very time-consuming and frustrating process, especially as most programs to do it are not free, and the two I have found that are do not always work as I want. One of them will frequently tell me my AVI files are NOT video streams and cannot be converted. The other one is a massive resource hog. They both convert at about 1:1 speed, so it takes a long time to convert a lot of things. Generally I queue it up before bed, so no real problem there. But yesterday I had to watch whatever was on TV at the gym b/c we didn't want to wait for Transformers to finish converting.
In the end, these are not end of the world issues - just a slight disappointment to find something that always simply worked decided to let me down this morning.
The reason it gets limited use is that as cool as the touch screen is, it is impractical for most of what I use an iPod for. Mostly, I use my iPod at the gym, and I don't want to listen to every song on there, but I don't really make many playlists. So my general procedure is to put it on shuffle, and every time a song comes on I don't want to listen to, I just hit the skip button until I come to a song I want.
The problem with the touch screen, then, is that I have to look at the iPod to use the skip. Of course, I usually have to slide the little bar to unlock it too. With the Nano, I just reach down, press the button, and voila, next song. It's so much quicker and easier WITHOUT the touch screen to me. The Touch is really great, but only when I am in a static state. On a plane ride, for example, it is exquisite. The best feature of the Touch is that it has a large screen for watching movie and TV. Definitely a lifesaver.
The other beautiful feature of the iPod is that it works. Simply. Bring your music into iTunes, plug in your iPod, and magically all your music is there for you to enjoy. However, this morning, for whatever reason, my iPod Touch did not want to work. Now, it might have been something else I was doing, but it was a definite breakdown in the ease of use. When I plug in the pod, I want it to sync to whatever is in my current iTunes library. This morning, I had roughly 4.6 GB of videos and 2.6 GB of music in my iTunes. For you math majors, that's 7.2 GB worth of stuff for an 8 GB iPod. Should have plenty of room for everything, right? Wrong. It kept telling me that I didn't have enough space.
Surely this was just a mistake, and easily fixed, right? Well, I unplugged it, plugged it back in (my IT solution for everything), same message. Now, I had some videos on the iPod already that I had deleted from my iTunes, because I was done with them and wanted them gone. But for whatever reason, it didn't want to get rid of them and put the new ones on there. It was simply fixed by just deleting them from the iPod. But I seem to remember in the past that it would all be done automagically.
The other breakdown I have seen with the iPod, and again I do not know that it is really the fault of the iPod, is that it is a huge pain to get videos onto it. All the videos I have are in AVI format, and they have to be converted to mpeg4 to work on my iPod. This is actually a very time-consuming and frustrating process, especially as most programs to do it are not free, and the two I have found that are do not always work as I want. One of them will frequently tell me my AVI files are NOT video streams and cannot be converted. The other one is a massive resource hog. They both convert at about 1:1 speed, so it takes a long time to convert a lot of things. Generally I queue it up before bed, so no real problem there. But yesterday I had to watch whatever was on TV at the gym b/c we didn't want to wait for Transformers to finish converting.
In the end, these are not end of the world issues - just a slight disappointment to find something that always simply worked decided to let me down this morning.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Salary Discrepancy
So, as it's now the 2nd of the month, I got paid yesterday (yes, I get paid monthly and it eats loads), and I was thinking, it would be much more accurate for them to tell me how much money I will make AFTER taxes. Now, I won't get into specific dollar amounts, you nosey bastards, nor will I get political because I know nobody gives a shit what I have to say about Elections '08 on my blog. I just want to point out that so far this year, 26.5% of the money I make has been taken out in taxes.
So, we're not talking about a few percent here, this is some significant cheddar. Now, I am not here to complain about this, necessarily, because I still have it pretty good, and I realize taxes are important for a lot of reasons. It just depresses me every month to know that I make $X, but in the end, I only see about 3/4 of that amount. You just wonder how much of a difference it would make to see a 5% decrease in taxes, or 5% increase. 5% seems like so little, it's a nickel on a dollar, but it would actually amount to hundreds of dollars a month. More (or less) money to pay off student loans or invest into a 401k.
At any rate, this has been a boring semi-political post, and quite frankly not very insightful about anything. Perhaps later I'll get something up here about Hamlet 2, which I took in this weekend.
So, we're not talking about a few percent here, this is some significant cheddar. Now, I am not here to complain about this, necessarily, because I still have it pretty good, and I realize taxes are important for a lot of reasons. It just depresses me every month to know that I make $X, but in the end, I only see about 3/4 of that amount. You just wonder how much of a difference it would make to see a 5% decrease in taxes, or 5% increase. 5% seems like so little, it's a nickel on a dollar, but it would actually amount to hundreds of dollars a month. More (or less) money to pay off student loans or invest into a 401k.
At any rate, this has been a boring semi-political post, and quite frankly not very insightful about anything. Perhaps later I'll get something up here about Hamlet 2, which I took in this weekend.
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