Archive for the 'Random Stuff' Category

Random story idea

Published at 1:21 pm on September 6, 2010 in Random Stuff and writing.

Found this in my notes. Wrote it about a year ago, never did anything with it.

Post-future dystopian city. In a state of perpetual gang warfare. The major players are Microsoft, who has bribed most of the government, Apple, who manufacturers various gadgets, and the underground Linux Mafia.

Also making an appearance are the GNU anarchist terrorists, the many faces of 4chan, facebook (system used by the government to track down and spy on everyone), Digg and Reddit (this universe’s version of the Crips and the Bloods) and many, many other other Internet cultures and software fanboys.

This is a place where “Flame War” means something involving napalm. GIMP users do drive-by shootings on Photoshoppers. Zune die-hards break into apple warehouses looking for secret plans to the ultimate mobile media device, only to be wiped out by Apple’s iKill security defences.

Dell manufacturers hunter-killer robots. Though most of their robots run Windows, Dell has begun to preload some of them with Linux. This severely strained their relationship with Microsoft, to the point where Microsoft moved a battalion of troops to the Microsoft/Dell border. In an effort to placate their Ally, Dell launched an advertising campaign with the slogan “Dell recommends Windows: Killer Edition for your Deathbot 9000.”

The Industrial district of the city is is ruins, made that way by the never ending war between Intel and AMD. Tanks and infantry roam the streets. NVidia and ATI fight over the scraps. Giant automated factories are hidden underground, producing deathbot after deathbot. Well known military researcher Gordon Moore predicts that due to the rate of technological advancement, wars will be fought with giant mechs soon. Everyone concurs that this will be awesome.

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Lost in Blue: sexist game ever?

Published at 7:08 am on July 25, 2010 in Geeky Stuff, Random Stuff, rants and reviews.

No, that isn’t a typo, up there in the title. It really is the most sexist game I’ve ever played, not the sexiest.

The premise, in a nutshell: you are a teenage boy who gets thrown from a cruise liner (or it sinks, it’s not stated either which way). You wake up on a deserted island — but wait! It’s not totally deserted, because who washes up on the beach next door but a teenage girl from the same ship! She’s looking for her glasses, which you promptly step on. Whoops. So, taking her by the hand, you lead her to the conveniently located cave nearby.

She weaves. She feeds the fire. She braids rope. And, of course, she cooks. Here’s how it plays out: you talk to her. She says something like “Hi! How was your day?” or, “Did you hear my stomach growling? ^_^” (the emotion is basically how they drew that bit of artwork.) Then you tell her that it’s time to eat, you hand over all your food, and she says… “I’ll do my best! ^_^” Then while your character sprawls out in front of the fire, she goes over to the corner and cooks your meal.

The girl is useless. She serves an in-game purpose, I understand that, but they could have made her just tiny bit less like an ideal 1930s housewife.

You can take her for a walk outside if you want. There’s no leash, so you’ll have to hold her hand the entire time. Why? Apparently because she doesn’t have her glasses and is therefore completely blind. When you get to a knee-high ledge, your character has to pick her up, swing her around, and set her down. Then he jumps up beside her, takes her hand, and pulls her to her feet. She can’t climb any high ledges, like the boy can, and she can’t wade through swamp (maybe it’ll ruin her dress? Who knows!).

In short, she’s useless. And because of the game designer’s half hearted attempts at a plot, it’s hard to ignore her simpering brainlessness.

Dear game developers (and while I’m at it, Hollywood execs): we need more female heroes. Real heroes. Not a damsel in distress, not a love interest, not pure sex appeal. Heroes.

Thank you, that is all.

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Side mount scope on a Marlin 80

Published at 8:39 pm on April 11, 2010 in Random Stuff and firearms.

Do a Google search for “side mount scope” and you get absolute shit results. “Marlin 80 side mount scope?” Forget about it. So to anybody looking for information, here you go.

Who this applies to: anyone who has a rifle with rail mounting holes on the side of the rifle rather then the top. Like my Marlin 80. You need a Weaver side mount (this page also has a complete list of applicable firearms) and a ring mount. I have the shorter one; the longer one is, I guess, for really long scopes.

You put the weaver side mount on — which is really just a riser with two screw holes in it — then onto that, you mount the rings. Then you stick the scope on and you’re done! And yes, the scope is in the same place as normal — when I was looking at the pictures of the parts, I couldn’t quite figure it out and was imagining the scope sticking out from the side or something. Happily, that is not the case.

One thing to note is that at least with my rifle, the scope was so low the bolt handle can interfere with the power adjustment knob on the scope if you’re not careful. One way to fix this might be to weld/glue/magik on a wee little bit of metal to the base of the bolt handle, which would remove the extra play it has and eliminate any possibility of the handle touching the scope.

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Phantom Hourglass: yeah, it’s awesome.

Published at 2:06 pm on January 27, 2010 in Random Stuff.

After my last post about how much Spirit Tracks sucks, I decided to replay Phantom Hourglass. And yep, it’s awesome. I think it’s better then Ocarina of Time. Furthermore, Linebeck is the greatest supporting character of any Zelda game ever made.

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Christmas time. Bah humbug.

Published at 11:25 pm on December 19, 2009 in Deep Thought, Life, Random Stuff and rants.

Man, Christmas is just not fun as a 19 year old when you compare it to when you were younger. The magic is gone.

And now they’re telling me Santa Claus doesn’t exist? Fuck this, I’m building a time machine.

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Unintended Consequences

Published at 2:03 am on December 11, 2009 in Random Stuff.

After reading for about 20 straight hours, I finished the novel Unintended Consequences. It’s a pretty long book.

Basic plot is… well, the basic plot actually has nothing to do with most of the book, and doesn’t start until page 500 or so.

The main theme, however, is firearms and related laws. Honestly, that’s all the book is about.

Good book, anyway. It’s a must read if you can manage an almost 900 page, small print novel. Read the Wikipedia page for more info.

EDIT: after reading some of the reviews on the Amazon page, my mind was opened a bit, and I realized that this book should have been split in two: one non-fiction dissertation on the history and effects of gun control; and one (reasonably sized) work of fiction that covers the main plot of the current Unintended Consequences novel.

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Eye Candy: Windows 7 vs. “Linux”

Published at 7:12 pm on October 30, 2009 in Geeky Stuff and Random Stuff.

I was just using Winodws 7 fo ra bit tjhe other day, and realized that no matter what else I may think about the operating system, it is shiny. So that led me to think: Can Linux do this?

Note: When I say Linux, I mean a usable operating system with everything I need installed. Fuck off, Stallman.

  • Buttons fading in and out on mouseover events

This is controlled by the GUI toolkit. QT 4 has fade effectsWindow Previews when hovering over the window list, last I checked. GTK does not, though that may change if they introduce GTK 3 along with Gnome 3.

  • Window Previews when hovering over the window list

Compiz provides a plugin for this, but with one glaring limitation: it can’t preview windows that are minimized. A Compiz developer had an explanation on his blog.

  • Making windows transparent when hovering over the “show desktop” plugin

Compiz provides a transparency plugin. However, tying this in with a button on the toolbar might be a bit tricky, as I’m pretty sure there’s no way of triggering anything on a mouseover event with GTK. Dunno about QT.

  • Transparent toolbars in windows

Would be handeled by the toolkit. Don’t think GTK or QT supports this.

In conclusion, I think that GTK just sucks ass, as far as shininess goes. But then, KDE (the only Desktop Enviroment created with QT) is a pile of crap. Hopefully it’ll actually be usable by the time 4.5 rolls around, which is kinda how KDE 3 went (i.e. sucked until 3.5).

More later, perhaps.

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Fireworks!

Published at 4:27 pm on July 1, 2009 in Immature Stuff, Life, Python, Random Stuff, Site Related and programming.

Just bought almost eighty dollars worth of fireworks. I… have no self control.

WordPress is being weird. I upgraded it and now the javascript throughout most of the admin area is not working. Makes navigating a tad bit difficult. I re-uploaded everything, cleared my cache, etc. — but still no luck. I installing it locally on my computer, and it works fine, so it’s not a problem with wordpress itself. So yeah. No idea.

Well, about that list of survivalist-related stuff I was going to do… as of yet, my biggest accomplishment is replacing my shoelaces with class 3 paracord that can hold of to 550 pounds. I also have begun carrying a knife and LED headlamp in my backpack. I’ve been meaning to pick up some razor blades so I can try out the credit-card knife, but I haven’t yet. I tried making a padlock jimmying shim out of a popcan, an endeavor that failed miserably.

I applied for a job at Wal-Mart. My application was accepted, but who knows whether they’ll ever get back to me. I expect that in this economy there’s a lot of people looking for work.

I’ve started work on a game — an isometric action RPG with zombies and guns. It’s written in Python/PyGame. Oh, speaking of games, I still haven’t uploaded my breakout game yet. I did finish it (mostly) but I’ve just been so lazy… well, the shirt I’m wearing says it all: Genius By Birth, Slacker By Choice.

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Fancy blog post

Published at 12:25 am on June 20, 2009 in Life and Random Stuff.

I wrote the following as an exercise, to see just how interesting I could make an ordinary day sound. Tell me what you think.

I woke up at nine in the morning. This was a surprise. For the last two days, I hadn’t woken up until two in the afternoon. I rolled over and went back to sleep. Why interrupt what was fast becoming a tradition?

My alarm rang an hour later. Well, beeped, anyway. Precious few alarms actually rang these days. A good thing, too – the last clock I owned could wake the dead with it’s little harmer vibrating wildly between the two bells. The whole thing fell to pieces soon after I bought it. Made in China crap. It didn’t even put a mark on the wall I threw it against.

This new one was digital, AC powered, ugly – and thankfully, had a really big snooze button. I hit it, and fell back asleep.

Interesting fact about alarm clock makers: to them, a snooze only lasts ten minutes. What the hell is up with that? What kind of terrible childhood did they have? I can just imagine it: “Nappy time, cuddly– kins!” Ten minutes later: “Back in the fields for you, devil-child!”

Terrible, just terrible. Even worse, this clock didn’t have an easy to reach off button. Rather, there was switch so sticky I had to use two hands – and far more brainpower then should be necessary – to budge it. So why bother? I might as well just get up. Yeah, yeah. Gonna get up. Gonna get up riiiiight nooooww…

Half an hour later I staggered into my (parents) kitchen, blinking in the harsh sunlight, bowls undecided as whether to take a piss or not, stomach likewise confused on the mutter of hunger. Morning sucks.

I stared at the phone in my hand, cursing Mr. Booth from the bottom of my heart. Phonophobia; Fear of Phones, that’s what I had. I’d never been good at talking to people, and not being able to see a person’s face just made it harder, not easier. I’m not really sure why. Ask a psychologist. Speaking of psychos, I once self-diagnosed myself as a partial sociopath. Now, though, I think its just apathy.

But back to phones: did I mention I don’t like them? But in this case I had to do it, because I wanted the paintball gun this guy was selling on craigslist. I dialed the number slowly, heart pounding, blood rushing to my head. My vision narrowed as I pressed the large button labeled “TALK” and raised the phone to my hear. As I began to slip into unconsciousness, I heard the voice of an angel… A computerized angel, telling me to go to hell because I dialed an invalid number.

Reality snapped back into place. Computers? I can handle computers, even sassy ones. I hung up, redialed the number – this time remembering the long-distance extension. My reservoirs of apprehension used up. I settled for pacing.

Ring… ring… ring… ring… Hi, y’got *name* please leave a message–

Click. I hung up up. Answering machines are, in a way, worse then humans.

Fast-forward a few hours later, and you’ll find me lounging in the backseat of our jeep, reading mangas, on the way to Coeur d’alene. In Coeur d’alene is a writing conference that my mom is going to. I decided to tag along to see if I could pick up anything,.

As expected, I didn’t. Writing cannot be taught – at least, not in the same way as, say, electrical engineering. But if we go with the number of consistently sucky fanfics on the internet, then we’d be forced to conclude that writers don’t get better over time, either.

So how do writers get better? I have an idea, that if true, will shake the very foundations of authorship. Writers advance in skill by devouring the souls and absorbing the talents of lesser writers! Remember that next time you look at the New York Times bestsellers list, and imagine the terror wrought to bring you these printed papers of prose.

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Friggin’ Awesome Idea

Published at 3:34 pm on May 28, 2009 in Deep Thought, Geeky Stuff, Life and Random Stuff.

Imagine: a black, kickass looking eypatch. On the inside, a tiny (but high resolution) OLED screen. On the front of the eyepatch would be a camera — if that isn’t possible with current technology, then it would be attached to the side of your head somehow — maybe on the same strap that’s holding your eyepatch. Or it could be like those police cameras I recall reading about a while back that loop over your ear.

Either way, you’ll have two things: a computer screen accessible at all times, and a video camera. Link them both to a wearable computer, and you have the basis for an augmented reality system.

And the best part is, I think this design is actually feasible!

I’ve put some thought into AR systems before, but they always involved projecting images onto lenses or something. The problem with this method is we don’t yet have good enough projector tech for that.

But swap out the projector for a monitor and camera, and you’ve got yourself the item that will make me a millionaire.

Some possible (realistic with today technology) uses:

  • Facial recognition. The computer would pick out faces and display their name, age, whatever you wanted. Handy if you’re bad at remembering people. You could also have an application that would automatically download a list of wanted felons and check for their faces.
  • Birds eye view of your current location, courtesy of Google Maps. Never be lost again.
  • Whatever information you wanted. You could even watch TV.

Possible (future) uses:

  • Virtual signs. Want to find the nearest ATM? Launch your ATM finding app, and suddenly a giant arrow springs up from the ground and hovers in the sky a few block away. A glowing green appears at ground level, guiding you there. The main problem with this kind of tech today is depth perception. Your AR goggles/eyepatch need some way of telling if there’s a building or other object between you and the virtual sign. Without this, it’ll just draw everything on top of the real world. Not good.

Hardware:

Once this thing goes to market, it would of course be custom built. But until then, I think a Pico ITX motherboard would be the best thing. Small (the size of a playing card!) low power requirements… build a small case, put it on your belt, forget about it.

For the camera, just any small digicam, like the afore-mentioned one the police were testing out. They’re out there. Once the technology progresses to the required level, the external camera could be replaced with one mounted directly on the eyepatch. If the user so desired, they could get two cameras — one normal, and one something like infrared. Night vision FTW!

The screen would of course be an OLED, like a cellphone display. I’m still researching it, but I’m confident that displays of the size I’m talking about can get at least something like 250×300 pixel resolution. Not great, but it would work for the purposes I outlined above. And since the tech gets better at an exponential rate, it shouldn’t be too long before the screen will be high-def.

Gloves. There’s got to be some way of controlling your software, right? So why not gloves? I’m thinking of a fingerless, ultra sci-fi design. There’d be sensors in the gloves so that your computer could interpret gestures as commands. Also, your camera would be able to pick out your gloves (due to some shiny reflective surface on them, or a particular pattern that image recognition could grab onto) so you could interact with the virtual world just by pointing at stuff.

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Anyway, those are some if my ideas. Thoughts, anyone?

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