Category Archives: GeekStuff


GeekStuff

Microsoft Moment: Early Morning

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On my drive into work every morning I pass our athletic fields. I usually give them a glance, to see if there’s any activity on them: games, practices, tents, parties, etc… Most mornings – since it’s before most of the campus is out of bed – there’s nothing much going on, aside from a lone tent occasionall [means a ship party has happened/will be happening]. This morning, however, there was just one guy with a set of bag pipes, pointing northward.

The only thing odder than seeing this is that I didn’t think it was odd at all: life on campus is kinda like that.

GeekStuff

Craps Advice

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Oddjack: How To Not Crap Yourself About Craps

Over the years, a lot of people have asked me about craps. There’s always a lot of yelling around the tables – sometimes happy and sometimes weeping – and for some reason it just feels like the most decadent way to gamble. Like real gamblers play craps, or something. I mean, who gets puffed up to grab a crayon and play Keno? Even so, craps is a fairly simple game, but it’s a quick game with a lot of different things going on at once, which is why it looks so complicated.

Oddjack has compiled a few links that offer more in depth help for the aspiring craps player – I thought I’d link to them, because they’re far funnier than you would expect an odds/gambling blog to be – quite a talent, that! – and well, I’ll gladly give’m some free press because of it.

GeekStuff

Texas Held Up?

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Simply put, where the hell is Texas Hold’m for the PSP?!

I mean, UMD movies? Yay, I guess – I’m sorta hard pressed to buy a movie that I can’t play on my regular TV. And before Sony can build a UMD player for my home system, how about you just allow the PSP to play to S-Video out or something? I won’t buy a $150 UMD player when I’ve already spent $250 on a UMD player that should work with my other stuff.

Pricy games that no one has heard of? Sure, they’re important – the more media available the better! – but how in the hell did this fall through the cracks?!
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GeekStuff

Post IBM ThinkPad Experience

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As is now ancient news – in digital terms – IBM sold off the ThinkPad line to Lenovo. I’ve been pretty much thrilled with both my ThinkPad T41 and IBM’s support. Easy to upgrade, pain free process to get parts, and updated drivers every couple of months. So the obvious question is “What will Lenovo be like?”
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GeekStuff

The Geek Shall Inherit The Earth?

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Neopoleon.com: Then I noticed a problem.

“So…” I began, “when the car was new, I recall the bumper lining up properly with the hood. Why isn’t it doing that now?”

The Car Person smiled and, after inspecting the damage, explained that “…all Mini’s are like that. None of them line up properly. It’s so strange. None of the Mini’s we’ve ever worked on have lined up. I guess they just come from the factory like that.”

Surely, this man was joking.

More like the Geek smacks down the lying bastards that try to do shitty work and call it “by design”.

Hm. Maybe we should transfer Rory to Test *smirk*

GeekStuff

Hah! J-List Edition

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A couple of years ago I bought a T-Shirt from J-List that looked like this hoodie and I’ve worn it all over the place. I sorta dig the shirt for three reasons… one is that anyone that isn’t Japanese will ever have a clue as to what it says, so it’s like being part of an inside joke. Another is that if someone asks you what it means, you can make up whatever you want and tell them so – that has almost caused a few bar fights, actually, if ya tell a guy it’s about his loose girlfriend.

And then there’s the case of what happens when a Japanese woman sees it and understands it – Japanese men never see the humor in it so they can piss off. The women always do… in fact, it can sometimes make for a lil story.
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GeekStuff

Too Good To Last?

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I’ve been on a Comcast cable modem for just about a year now; I spent the previous three years on SBC DSL. I should have expected a problem by now, given my past experience with DSL and other people’s stories with cable company… or at least a half dozen problems, actually. Instead, I’ve spend most of the last twelve months with trouble free service.

Until this weekend.
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GeekStuff

Whoa!

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c|net: Apple to ditch IBM, switch to Intel chips

This has been kicking around the rumor mill for months now and was put to rest as “just a rumor” a couple of weeks ago… then c|net puts this out there over the weekend!

Should make for one hell of an emotional WWDC on Monday.

GeekStuff

Er… Video Game Strike?

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Kotaku: Video Game Strike Vote Coming – …a strike is on the table for video game actors. […] The industry says the main disagreement is about the details of residuals, that’s the money actors receive which is based on game sales. The union wants it built on a sliding scale that is based on sales, while publishers want to make a single up-front payment.

Er…
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GeekStuff

Episode III

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No worries about spoilers… I mean we all know how this movie ends, right? Anyway, I had a low expectation for this particular movie, given Episodes I and II – I was pretty much happy with how it played out. A lot of things were tied together (including a few lose ties in V and VI!) but for the most part, it was what I expected… just with better special effects than my mind usually imagines + a few one liners that were actually funny.

And from the previewes, I now want to see The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe – before today, I was skeptical about it being in Disney’s hands and I’m still unsure that there will be seven movies before it’s done – and wouldn’t mind seeing Fantastic Four, The Longest Yard and Batman Begins (which I would have been eager to see were it not for four Batman movies and three different Batman cartoons over the last 25 years – the dark knight should take some time off soon!)

I’m sorta jealous of the kids that are just getting to be Old Enough to see the double trilogy… it would have to rock, seeing I – VI for the first time, in that order.

GeekStuff

Rockstar Games on Crack?

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It’s either a stroke of brilliance or a sign that the coders of Rockstar Games have been living the crack scenes of Grand Theft Auto… I present to you, The Warriors – the video game.

I saw this movie on the late, late, late, late show one weekend in the mid 90’s – amazing what ya find on TV when the house you’re staying at doesn’t have cable – and… well. It was so bad that you had to keep watching it. It was about a gang – The Warriors – from Coney Island that went up to the Bronx for a gang peace rally. They then get framed for a killing some high ranking peace guy by a rival gang and are then hunted for the rest of the night as their big hair/afro heads have to fight their way from the Bronx back home… Which should only be a 25 minute subway ride – that’s what makes the whole thing so laughable, honestly.

What’s more is that it was the follow up to Michael Beck’s performance in Xanadu – both of which were supposed to “make” his career. I guess it made it, since I don’t think he’s made a movie since.

Time will tell if Rockstar Games has hit gold with a cult classic or hit the ground at mach 2…

GeekStuff

Grump Grump Grump – Weekend Edition

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Yeah, well, so I finally got around to playing a bit more with the Mac mini today. Not much, though, because there’s a new collection of outlets in WA now, and much like the outlets in CT (same owners, ironically) they are near a casino… priorities! So, before I get into the Mac mini story, I gotta say that those new Texas Hold’em Bonus tables are a lot of fun and I’m pretty thrilled that Tulalip got them already – I follow the company that makes the tables and they’re still pretty new. The game play is odd, but fun. Um…
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GeekStuff

An Unlikely Proclimation

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I don’t really like the term Killer App, but I feel I have to use it this one time, cuz I want an application that could make the PSP a very nifty gadget… and it’s not that I don’t want to use the term “killer” or think that one app could create gazillions of dollars at the expense of every other competitor… it just reminds me of every marketing person that I’ve ever worked with and didn’t like. To the people that I’m thinking of, everything had to be a “home run” or it wasn’t worth doing; they forgot that four small singles also make a run, so there should always be room for non-killer apps in the world.

Anyway, it’s not just an idea for a Killer App, but it’s an application that I can’t code which bugs the shit outta me… I don’t like having digitial ideas that I can’t work on, but that’s exactly the case here. The PSP is a completely new platform with a new-to-me compiler and I know dick about streaming video feeds, so I have to just say that I want it and wait for someone else to code it.
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