Haven’t posted in a while, so now I will share interesting things I have discovered.
1: Rez HD is still awesome. If you have never played Rez, be assured that it is awesome, and you should play it, and now you can do that in HD. Xbox Live Arcade. Go forth.
2: A year ago today, blinky lights shut down Boston. Today, people remember the occasion. With more blinky lights..
3: If you have not heard, Anonymous has declared war on Scientology. As far as I’m concerned, this is like watching a horde of deadly ice weasels attacking Nazis. Sure, I’m not technically on the side of the ice weasels. But hey, I don’t like Nazis, either, and at least it’s is funny.
I’m also watching it with my Student of Emergent Behavior hat on. But that’s taking a back seat to pure schadenfreude lately.
Anyway, apparently the next plan is to take the to the streets, and someone who actually knows something about protesting has put together a guide…
Evolution of Security
Our ambition is to provide here a forum for a lively, open discussion of TSA issues. While I and senior leadership of TSA will participate in the discussion, we are turning the keyboard over to several hosts who represent what’s best about TSA (its people). Our hosts aren’t responsible for TSA’s policies, nor will they have to defend them — their job is to engage with you straight-up and take it from there. Our hosts will have access to senior leadership but will have very few editorial constraints. Our postings from the public will be reviewed to remove the destructive but not touch the critical or cranky.
In a World!…. Where the TSA!… Has a Blog!
Blog in your pajamas. And Shoes!
You can have your lively discussion when I can have my Yoo-Hoo
Those who sacrifice freedom for a Digg deserve neither
Food Ministry and Hunger Relief: Angel Food Ministries This seems like a program that would probably help out struggling poor the only kind of grad students. They sell a box of food that would normally be valued at $42-$78 for $30. According to their faq, there are no applications or qualifications, and I get the impression from reading the website that they don’t look like they’ll make you feel guilty for ‘not being poor enough’. If I had to guess, it’s probably because they don’t loose money on each box they sell. Buying restaurant supply food in large bulk will do that.
For January in Ohio, this is what their menu looks like:
1.25 lb. Bacon Wrapped Beef Filets (5 x 4 oz)
4 lb. Individually Frozen Chicken Leg Quarters
2 lb. Lean Hamburger Steaks (4 x 8oz.)
1.5 lb. Boneless Pork Roast
1.25 lb. Meaty Beef Short Ribs
20 oz. Supreme Pizza
10 oz. Deli Sliced Turkey Breast
3 lb. Fresh Apples
35 oz. Crinkle Cut French Fries
16 oz. Frozen Green Beans
16 oz. Onion Rings
14 oz. Fancy Ketchup
26 oz. Pasta Sauce
16 oz. Pasta
16 oz. Pinto Beans
7.5 oz. Macaroni and Cheese
Dessert Item
They may not be as big as the swing of Tiger Woods, but the guy who registered Iwantyoutogivemeyourmoney.com must have quite a pair. I believe the PayPal button actually works, as well.
WOWIO (which must be an acronym for something) is a service to deliver legally free books in PDF form. It works by inserting 2 pages of advertisements at the beginning and end of each book, and putting a line at the bottom of the first page “This ebook is licensed to [Firstname] [Lastname]”. I’ve also seen a few webcomics say they get $0.50 every time someone downloads their PDF. There is a limit, 3 PDFs a day (you set up a huge queue) and you can redownload anything from the last three days.
So, free books paid for by non-annoying advertising that pay creators small fee per download and that are marked as belonging to a single person to discourage re-sharing. This seems like how this sort of thing should be done.
Right now I’ve just been getting comics from very small publishers that I probably would never heard of or have any way to purchase legally. Some are good, and some are crap. If you like Fables I suggest two other series from the same writer “Strange Heroes” and “Pantheon”.
Universal Influenza Vaccine Tested Successfully In Humans
British-American biotech company Acambis reports the successful conclusion of Phase I trials of the universal flu vaccine in humans.
Remember when the lack of a cure for the common cold used to be proof that there were just some things humans couldn’t accomplish?
Ordinarily I would shy away from linking to some random dude’s Flickr photoset.
However, this guy has gone through and “interpreted” art so that it is accessible to Geekdom. Some of the results are really worth a few minutes. Geek art Gallery
Slashdot story
Careful, it’s art. There might be naked ladies.
It has come to light that despite the $25 million dollar production Bloodrayne doing poorly ($3.5 million in box office takings), they’re going to be making two more.
Something from Bloodrayne II’s plot summary to give you an idea of how this is going to turn out: “Along with the railroad however, arrives an unwelcome and deadly guest, a vampiric Billy the Kid (Zack Ward). Using the railway, the 357-year old Transylvanian vampire is building an army of cowboy vampires to take over the country and create a vampire kingdom in the New World.”
For those of you not watching today’s Stevenote live, I would just like to point out that the Macbook Air has been released.
Ordinarily I wouldn’t care, but from a technical standpoint this thing’s pretty freakin’ incredible. It’s thinner and lighter than the world’s lightest ultralight laptop today, has 5 hours of battery life, supports wireless N and bluetooth…. and they SHRUNK the Core 2 Duo 60% to get it in there!
I really want one of these now… too bad they start at $1800.
EDIT: Many people have been wondering, given Apple’s propensity for hermetically sealing their systems, how easy or hard replacing the battery is. Turns out, It’s fairly easy, for Apple…
So, there are a few high-profile Xbox Live Arcade games coming out this year. But maybe you’re like me, and hate waiting. So, some advice:
Waiting for Ikaruga? Try Omega Five, which hit last week. It’s not quite as hard, but it does have hilarious Engrish, and is a respectable shooter in its own right. Also, very pretty.
Waiting for Rez? Try Every Extend Extra Extreme. It has a very silly name, and a similar vibe - not so much a game as an excuse to play trance music while things explode. Strangely hypnotic.
Waiting for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix? Get the only thing with an equally absurd name: Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. A competitive puzzle game that, in the time since I downloaded it, has gone from a good way to kill some time to my favorite drop puzzle game since Tetris.
Also, I can now report that Portal for the 360 is as awesome as for the PC, and it does hold its replay value even months later. Fantastic game.
Gamerhelp published a list of 10 real-life people who look like videogame characters. (Warning! Contains shirtless carrot top!)
Most disturbing: Aforementioned shirtless carrot top
Most hilarious: Dennis Kucinich as Leisure Suit Larry
Most Accurate: Orlando Bloom as Link
Soul Calibur IV. Now with some unexpected cast additions.
Once again, we live in a strange and terrible world.
This year has got to be the most interesting presidential primary race in history.
* This is the first election since the 1800s that hasn’t involved a sitting president or vice president
* There are at least three significant contenders in the Democratic primary
* The GOP primary is even more spread out, depending on who you count as significant. I tend to think of it as candidates with an impact on the vote overall, which would currently be everyone except Duncan Hunter.
* Female candidate, Black candidate, Mormon candidate
* A bunch of states violated the RNC rules and moved their primaries int January. They are denied HALF of their delegates.
* Michigan and Florida violated the DNC rules and moved their primaries into January. They are denied ALL of their delegates. Together these states normally have over 300 pledged delegates. For comparison, Iowa has 45 and Super Tuesday (this year) has 1688.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Military_Operations_2003_to_Current_-_Alphabetical
Jeremy Clarkson stung for £500 as fraud stunt gets punished | Money | Guardian Unlimited
The outspoken star printed his bank details in a newspaper to try and make the point that his money would be safe and that the spectre of identity theft was a sham.
He also gave instructions on how to find his address on the electoral roll and details about the car he drives.
However, in a rare moment of humility Clarkson has now revealed the stunt backfired and his details were used to set up a £500 direct debit payable from his account to the British Diabetic Association.
I will never, ever understand why people listen to actors.
ArsGeek » Blog Archive » ArsGeek reviews the Neuros OSD
This thing looks pretty cool. Simple and straightforward, with a lot of potential.
