Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Bacon

We all remember Kris's Bacon Salt video, yes? Indeed, bacon is beloved by all. Then, surely you have all seen these?

Maple-Bacon Lollipops
Bacon flavored mints
and the item that led me to the others: Bacon floss

^_^

(short posts indicate that I am still homeless and wandering the streets of Yakima)

Monday, June 23, 2008

RIP George Carlin

A comedian and philosopher, George Carlin passed away yesterday at the age of 71. Let us never forget:
shit
piss
fuck
cunt
cocksucker
motherfucker
and tits.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Finding Businesses in Google Maps

Random thought of the day:

Looking for a clothing store near the hotel I'll be staying at in Lacey, I began to wonder what the other nearby businesses were. I can clearly see these large buildings with expansive parking lots, and no idea what business is there.

So, why don't businesses put their name on their roof? With satelite imagery (like Google Maps) becoming mainstream, this is an advertising venue they are totally missing out on. How much could it possibly cost?

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Time travel back to 1000 A.D.: Survival tips

There is a fairly fascinating thread going on over at Marginal Revolution regarding unexpected time travel. The basic premise is this: suppose that you were suddenly transported back to 1000AD. You only have what you were wearing and your knowledge. What steps would you take to ensure your survival?

The entire thread is a _long_ read at the moment (and getting longer), but the suggestions range from the practical to the hilarious.

I don't know what I'd do; I can't even think past the inevitable massive caffeine-withdrawal headache.

Friday, June 06, 2008

Retarded Policeman (Episode 9: Boobies!)

Show/Hide

Why did I laugh at this? It wouldn't appear to be my kind of humor at all.
"So, I should get rid of the hobo?"
Josh is funny.

Pillow Talk

Show/Hide

From BriTANick.com

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Poor choices

My computer recently crashed with a blue screen of death. I was quite unprepared for it, since I hadn't restarted my computer in over a month. So I hadn't had a reason to close firefox. So... I hadn't saved my open tabs. Of which, there were many.

Oh, but I have Tab Mix Plus installed, right? That saves open tabs. And, even if it didn't, I still have my tabs from the previous two sessions, yes?

Obviously NO, otherwise why would I be posting about it?

TMP stores the previous two sessions AND the current session (in case of crash) in THE SAME FILE. So, if that file is being written to DURING the crash, everything is gone. The current tabs, the last session tabs, the previous tabs, EVERYTHING. Because they couldn't be arsed to separate these things into different files.

It's not the most retarded design decision I've seen this month, but it's pretty fucking close.

If you use firefox (which you should), and you use tmp (which you also should, it's just crap at sessions), may I heartily recommend Session Manager? It's about 1000x better, and works very well with tmp. Don't make the same mistake I made of relying on tmp. Because it will fail.

(By the way, the new version of firefox 3 is ridiculously fast. Best browser I've ever used, and I basically live online. Get it.)

Monday, June 02, 2008

Bother

It bothers me when people don't read the entire contents of an e-mail before responding. I spent some time crafting that message, choosing the right words, the best phrases... And then they read the first two sentences and reply.

True story: I'm working on my masters project for computer science. What I would like to do is use games as a medium for education, eg, an RPG where you learn a language while playing. Simple, right? And while I could do this easily on a computer, for the specific game I have in mind, a stylus is preferred. So, the Nintendo DS would be ideal. But, as just a guy, I don't really fit the developer profile they are looking for. However, I decided to send them an e-mail to ask them, just to be sure. Something like:
Hi, I'm a student working on my final project, and I was wondering if Nintendo has an educational program for developers. Since I don't meet the specifications for a developer license myself, could my university acquire one? Thanks for your time.
What I got back was (verbatim):
Hello and thank you for contacting Nintendo,

While I would like to assist you with your project, I don't have access to the type of information you are looking for. Due to the number of similar e-mail we receive, we're not able to assist with projects like yours, and we're not equipped to track down official responses to questions.

It may interest you to know that all of the information we have available is posted on our website at www.nintendo.com. If you visit our site, be sure to check out the "Corporate" section. This is where we have posted Nintendo's business-related information, annual reports, and a company history.

Also, several books and articles have been written on the video game industry. "Game Over" by David Sheff and "The Ultimate History of Video Games" by Steve L. Kent were written several years ago, but are excellent resources on the video game industry.

Although we regret being unable to assist you with your request, we're confident that you will find the listed resources useful.

Sincerely,

Nintendo of America Inc.
At first, I thought they were talking about my actual project, but as I continued reading, I realized that somehow they got the impression that I was writing a report on the history of gaming or Nintendo or something. Grrr.