Grumble Grumble

I've been having power issues all day today.  Lovely little flickers where the lights will go out for less than a second and then come back.  Not long enough to do much, except reset every electronic device I own.  Needless to say, it's been wrecking havoc with the machines that keep this site going.

The webserver itself always makes it through, it's odd, but it never even so much as restarts during these flickers.  Sometimes the router makes it through, but the database server has shut down everytime in conjunction with the DSL modem resetting itself — which results in an IP address change.  The worst part is that no one else that I know of has been dealing with these.

I just love this apartment and Fredericton in general.

There's a real entry coming up eventually, but first I have to finish another chapter on my thesis.  Come Monday night, Tuesday at the latest, I should have it up.  So stay tuned for my review of Gothika!

Against All Better Judgement

Well, today it happened.  I caved in and joined the ranks of my friends who own a Nintendo GameCube.  I really shouldn't have spent the money, but I figure that I won't be getting much in the line of presents next week, so this is an early birthday present to myself.*

So what exactly caused it?  Well, the other night I was up at EB and I spotted that they had copies of both Zelda games for the N64 there.  Majora's Mask is fairly difficult to find, so I went and asked how much a used system would cost.  29.99 I'm told.  Hrmmm… I could get both Zelda games and the system for around a hundred bucks before taxes.  Sounds like a plan to me.

So I head up to the cash and tell them what I want to get.  The clerk heads out back, grabs the stuff and comes back with it.  She starts ringing them through, and then stops when she hits Majora's Mask.

"Oh. You're going to need the expansion cartridge to play this one."
"Oh. Do you have any in stock?"
"I don't think so.  You'll probably have to try ebay or something like that."

So, I didn't get it then.  Instead I go home and check ebay for the things.  N64 expansion pack, average price of between 20 and 30 dollars Canadian, plus shipping.  Buying the N64 is now looking about as expensive as buying a GameCube.  And that's when it dawns on me: they're currently selling GameCubes with a bonus disc containing the two NES Zeldas and the two from the N64.  I'll just get one of those instead.

So today, I'm talking to Dmitrii and he mentions that his girlfriend is going to buy him an XBox as a combination birthday/Christmas present, so he's just about to head to the mall.  I weasel myself a drive, and I'm now the proud owner of the Zelda/GameCube bundle.  There's now no way much work is getting done tonight.

*I wasn't planning on mentioning this fact, but it looks like I just did.

You May Now Commence Flaming Me

Why?

The Weatherman Says "Fair," But He Looks Like A Lie

The following is a filler entry, designed simply to put something up here.  You have been warned.

By now most of you have probably noticed the new section in the sidebar tracking the rapture index.  It's something I find amusing, since, according to the factors he takes into account, we should expect the rapture any time soon.  Of course, the fact that any single event can cause the index to rise while it takes months of inactivity for it to fall has nothing to do with it, oh no, not at all.  (Case in point: The description for 'Flooding' makes reference to hurricane Isabel.  Isabel made landfall almost two months ago.)

Anyways, the sidebar itself is hardly finished.  Originally there were supposed to be terrorist alert level style images there instead, but they didn't look right.  I'm thinking of little stock market style arrows instead.  Sometime, when I have a bit more free time, I'll mess around with it more.  Until then it remains a fairly cludgy link to something I find unintentionally amusing.

This also marks my first posting using the hastily done, and therefore exceptionally ugly, "System Stuff" image.  I really need to get around to making a better one.

I Lied

So there is an entry coming shortly after those three, and it's this one.  What's the purpose?  Well, quite simply, to complain.  Namely that there's a spot on my carpet that now makes wet squishy sounds when I step on it.  I've complained to the landlord about the leak before, but nothing's happened.

I hate this apartment and January can not come soon enough.

It's A Thursday Entry Trifecta!

Well, just when my carpet was starting to dry out, it rains again.  And I'm not talking a small amount of rain here, I'm talking enough rain to require me to take two hops to get across the ditch by the highway.  (First hop = Into the water.  Second hop = Out of the water.)

On the plus side, I have government tests on Saturday for a year-long intern position that would start in May.  I don't know if my thesis will be done by then, but applying for this type of stuff gives me an incentive to try and get it finished.

Speaking of my thesis, the hardware finally came back in, meaning I can start up my experiments first thing in January.  If it had been about a week earlier I probably could have got them done this month, but as it is I'd be running into the exam period if I started now, and that's out of the question.  So, in the meantime, I'm writing.  Lots of writing, tons of writing, oodles and oodles of writing.  Well, I would be if I could concentrate on it.  I think I've found the best method of doing it though, I gather all the papers I'm likely to refer to, find myself a nice location with no computers and that's not too isolated, and I then proceed to write it all out in a notebook.  It seems to be working fairly well, as I got more done tonight than I did all last week.  Here's hoping everything but the analysis and conclusions can be finished by the end of December.

On a final note, referring to an earlier entry from today, I've decided to see if I'll have enough money to somehow build a MAME cabinet come next term.  I won't have need for a router anymore, and in an effort to conserve power I'm going to switch my database over to heimdall.  This will give me a spare Celeron to fool around with, so why the hell not.  Of course, that does defeat my whole 'saving power' idea, but if I only turn it on occassionally so as to fiddle with it then I should be alright…  Right?

No more entries for a while, so enjoy these in the meantime.

Is Anyone Surprised?

Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat (2003)
Reviews counted: 16
Fresh: 3  Rotten: 13
Average Rating: 3.3/10
RATING: ROTTEN

Let's see, we've got an actor who irritates a lot of people, and a director who's only ever directed TV episodes.  If those of you who saw this coming would please raise your hands…

The only question remaining is whether or not this be better or worse than The Grinch.  Of course, being better than that defiling of childhood memories isn't all that much to brag about.

Actually, I just looked it up and it seems The Grinch managed a 53% rating.  I'm surprised.

Pac-Man Fever!

I'll admit it, I'm a Slashdot junkie.  I don't comment much, I don't necessarily agree with the editorial slant put on many, if not most, of the articles, but damned if I don't end up checking it several times a day.  I've even gone so far as to set my account to display all stories, even ones that aren't really 'front page' ones.  Which is where this next part comes in…

Two days ago a story showed up that had been published via the games* section about Namco rereleasing Qix and Space Invaders in a single cabinet.  Mmmmm Qix…  Anyways, the article also made reference to the Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga cabinet, which I had played a few weeks back.

Now, the thing with mentioning that game is that apparently the original Pac-Man is hidden in it.  I'll admit something else, I have an old arcade game addiction.  In fact, an absence of money to buy the needed buttons and joysticks, combined with a distinct lack of skill when it comes to cutting stuff, is about the only thing that has stopped me from building a MAME cabinet.  Anyways, last time I was in Lincoln the Big Stop had a copy of that machine.  I can always convince Danes to go out to the Big Stop, seeing as she loves the food, so I think I'll be making a trip sometime in the near future.

*Yes, that is the worst colour scheme I've seen on a major website.

We Interrupt Your Usual Ranting To Bring You An Important Announcement

I had another page up earlier today/last night as a sort of teasing way to mention that someone hadn't updated her webpage in a while.  It was meant solely in a joking way, but I seem to have touched a nerve.

I didn't mean to, and for that I apologise.

On the plus side, I did manage to force a site update…

Oldie But Goodie

I bitched about RPGs in a previous entry, so it's only fitting that I dig around and find this link. If you've seen it before then oh well, if you haven't then enjoy.

The Grand List Of Console Role Playing Game Clichés

The Gender Genie!

One of the things I do every weekend is check the Globe & Mail's columnists listing and make a special effort to read the ones by Rex Murphy and Leah McLaren (author of the infamous guide to being a functional alcoholic).

Anyways, today's piece by Ms. McLaren was on an algorithm that a group of scientists developed that analyses word content in prose and claims to detect the gender of the writer with an 80% accuracy level.  It seems that a variety of newspaper columnists have sent their articles and their co-workers' articles through only to find out that all the female writers were identified as male.  Of course, I'm not one to pass up a challenge like that, so I went through and selected long entries from a variety of different blogs.

So, I know what you want to know: what were the results? Well, I'm most definitely male. In fact, it managed to guess that four out of the five blogs submitted were male. Score one for it, or maybe not. You see, I'm definitely male, as is Derek, Matt, and Nancy (with an astonishing 0 for 5 record). As for the female… Well, sorry Peter, but it only thought one of your last 6 entries was written by a male.

Don't just take my word for it though, check it out yourself.

(And on a final note, this entry was also written by a male, although it seems to be solely my use overuse of the word 'the' that gives that side the advantage.)

And Knowing Is Half The Battle

The following is an important message to all aspiring bakers out there:

Do not accidentally mix up the amount of muffin mix and water when combining the two in a bowl. The results will be just a little soupy.

Random Trivia

I got bored earlier today, and started browsing around the Doctor Who website over at the BBC. Now, I'll admit it, I've only ever seen one episode of any of the various incarnations, but I was curious as to how much work Douglas Adams had done with the series.

So I go browsing around, and I spot an interesting bit of trivia:

"Random Fact: Douglas Adams' third HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy novel, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, started life as an abandoned Who script - Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen."

Now, ignoring the fact that the third book is actually 'Life, the Universe, and Everything' (something that I initially missed, and which Nancy had to point out to me), I think that's a fairly interesting bit of trivia. Perhaps more interesting (or less, depending on your point of view), is the fact that it would appear that Mr. Adams reworked a script that did get aired into a novel.

You see, he apparently only worked on one season, and only wrote two scripts, so I was browsing through them when I came across a familiar looking plot summary:

"The Count is revealed as an alien called Scaroth, last of the Jagaroth race. He was splintered in time when his ship exploded above primeval Earth […] His intention is to go back and prevent the destruction of his ship. […] The Doctor realises that the Count must be prevented from carrying out his plan as the explosion of the Jagaroth ship provided the energy that initiated life on Earth."

Anyone who's read the Dirk Gently books should be immediately recognising that, as it's essentially the plot to 'Dirk Gently's Holisitic Detective Agency.'

There, there's your random trivia for the day.

Nicely Inconspicuous

Sometimes you have to wonder about people.  Other times you just have to throw your hands up in the air and shout "That's it, I give up, we're all doomed!"

Today almost brought on one of those moments.

I was waiting for the Java2 SDK to finish installing on the newly returned wearable, so I decided to take a trip over to one of the Internet's greatest time wasting websites and see what weird events were happening in the world.  There, near the top of the list, was a headline that caught my eye: "Forget John, Mary, Jane or Bob," it said, "Parents are now naming their children after consumer products, networks and diseases."

Well, I just had to click that and, sure enough, it was true. Names like L'Oreal, ESPN (at least two cases), and even Syphilis.  Yes, syphilis.  Someone, somewhere, thought that they'd make their child's life a living Hell by naming them after a well known venereal disease.  This isn't the first time I'd heard of this type of thing happening, someone once mentioned having heard of a girl named after a yeast infection.  But still, Syphilis?  Unnecessary and Nonchalant seem like the best names possible compared to Syphilis.

The article itself is over here, and although I've picked out the worst of them, the ones I didn't mention still make Anathema Device seem like a godsend.

(Bonus points for whoever can pick out the origin of this entry's title.)

Death or Glory

A while back (i.e. September) I decided that I wanted to buy a Risk board. So I headed down to the merchant most likely to have one to pick one up. When I got there I was suriprised by the number of Risk variations that existed. I wasn't really interested in those though, as I wanted to be able to play normal Risk.

Then I noticed the printing on one of the boxes: "Includes all the pieces to play the classic game of Risk" I'd heard good things about Risk 2210, so I decided to spend a few dollars more and grab that instead.

Well, tonight I finally got around to playing a game, with the following final scores at the end of the five 'year' limit:

Kevin (in control of S. America, US Pacific, and N. Atlantic): 29
Andrew (in control of Africa, S. Atlantic, & Cresinion): 17
Linda (in control of Australia): 16
Dmitrii (in control of Europe): 14

I'll explain the rules/differences to normal Risk below. Clicky clicky for more.

 Continue reading Death or Glory

Waitin' For Its Cover To Be Blown

Well, I'm back. Sort of. Things have gotten a bit better. I'm still behind on my thesis, and that doesn't seem to be changing, but other than that things are going better. I still don't have much to say though. I'm working on it.

For starters, I've found a new place to live. Some people already knew this, others probably don't care, but I've still found a new place. Of course, it is with my room mate from first year, and we did part on less than positive terms, but this time it's an apartment, and not a 12'x15' room. Plus it's a nice building, great location (directly across the street from the new grocery store) and not 20 minutes from school — the last bit being important when it's feckin' cold out.

I've also been spending money again, something I haven't done in a while. I found a copy of Good Omens when I was at Chapters — tucked away in the middle of the M authors. (*insert puzzled expression*) I also found acopy of Uncle Tupelo's Anodyne on sale (and had to restrain myself from buying any other CDs that were on sale), along with a copy of the old SNES game Desert Strike (Hellllllllllllo early 90s!), and finally decided to add a copy of Final Fantasy Origins to the pile of RPGs I've yet to finish. (Current list: Dragon Warrior VII, Star Ocean: The Second Story, Legend of Legaia, Suikoden II, Breath of Fire III, Final Fantasy Tactics, Shenmue, Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader, Robotrek, Secret of Evermore. Ok, so that last one is justifiable if I don't finish it.)

 Continue reading Waitin' For Its Cover To Be Blown

Hiatus

I'll be taking a break from posting new entries for a while. I'll be back in a week or so, but until then there probably won't be anything new.

It's a combination of the fact that I've got lots of work and the fact that, while I have plenty of things I could post, I don't actually have anything I want to post.

I'll be back eventually. Hopefully stuff gets better.