Some things are not meant to be eaten

VGADD

2006-07-17T06:41:36Z

So, earlier today, Mar said to me: “You don't finish video games.”

She said this to me because I am playing a different game on our laptop than I am on my desktop. Both games are installed on both computers, but playing the same game on both computers would involve moving my saves around all the time, which I just don't want to deal with. But in the larger sense, she's right. It's true. I have video game ADD.

I pick up a game, and I play it until I'm done. This usually gets me to the ¾ mark, at which point I put the game down and never look at it again. Occasionally I'll play a game that I think I really should beat, and so I force myself to play the last ¼. Even rarer are games which are fun the whole way through. Games where I don't feel like I'm working.

Even though I can admit that the majority of games I play don't get finished, I needed to come up with some examples of games that I do finish, otherwise Mar would win. The problem I run into here is that the number of games I finish seems to be inversely proportional to my age. Here are the games I remember finishing in college:

SW: KOTOR
Kingdom Hearts
System Shock 2
Pikmin
Halo
Eternal Darkness

Pikmin, Halo and Eternal Darkness fall into the “last ¼” category of games. I can list twice that many games from when I was playing NES and gameboy, probably more if I put the same amount of effort in that I did trying to remember games from college.

So I have three hypotheses about this inverse relationship:

1)My attention span is getting shorter.
2)My memory is getting worse.
3)Games nowadays suck massive blue whale cock

I'm not sure which of these I dislike the least.

Input?

feodoric @ 2006-04-06T20:19:00

2006-04-07T01:20:21Z

And then you wake up.

Internets != love

2005-06-23T15:32:19Z

Freaking verizon DSL is screwed up. Started at the beginning of the month, on saturday. DSL just stopped working. My father called tech support, and they gave us the basic tech-support mumbo-jumbo (reset your dsl modem... and your computer... now try plugging the modem in with a different phone cord...) None of this worked, but the interwebs came back in short intervals that allowed me to check my emails.

Then this tuesday, it starts going down again. It's down for about an hour around noon, then goes down for good at three. So I'm sad due to no interwebs. When my brother wakes up at 3 yesterday, he tells me about a trick he has to make the internet work, which is to leave the phone off the hook (that's how I'm writing this entry). I realize that the reason the interwebs were coming back the first day the problem happened was that my father was on the line with tech support. It was very weird at the time. This means our DSL is now basically just a high-speed dialup connection, because we can't make or receive calls while we're online. (Well, that's a lie. If we make the call, then go online, that works. But hanging up the phone interrupts the service.)

So... what the fuck? Why does this make the internet work? I can only think of two possibilities here:
1) The modem is old and fucked up. It doesn't realize that it is hooked up to an active phone line unless it hears the dial tone. I don't know if this is possible, but it's the only modem-related reason for this problem I can think of. This option makes me sad, because it means that we have to pay 40 bucks for a new modem. Even though we pay something like $25 a month for the DSL, and have been customers for almost five years (since the time that Verizon was Bell Atlantic). Even though Verizon is now offering BETTER DSL service cheaper, and with a free modem, they say we still have to pay for a new one. (Admittedly, they said this to my brother, not to me or my father. I think either one of us would have flipped out at the tech support person and demanded some sort of not rape-me-in-the-ass service)

2) Something is fucked up with the phone lines in this area, and the DSL signal is too weak for the modem to pick up without the phone line having an active voice connection. This one makes me less sad, because it means the problem is on verizon's end, and they just need to fix some stuff. But again, I can't figure out why this would be.

Either way, I'm thinking maybe we should switch to cable.

feodoric @ 2005-06-15T11:52:00

2005-06-15T15:54:39Z

Apparently my head is quite long. This is the shortest my hair has ever been.

feodoric @ 2005-06-09T10:52:00

2005-06-09T15:02:02Z

Man, Slashdot is awesome this morning:

Windows to use Monad shell The article doesn't really explain what the monad shell is, but if its got monads, I like it.

Yahoo reports that scientists at Sandia National Labs have created a rail gun.

And a scientist in Japan recently displayed his
prototype for a robot suit, saying "Humans may be able to mutate into supermen in the near future."

feodoric @ 2005-06-04T02:22:00

2005-06-04T06:28:00Z

I forgot to mention earlier the highlight of tonight's episode of New York Noise, which was a video of Matisyahu performing. For those of you, like me, who are in the dark regarding this amazing performer, I will provide enlightenment:

Briefly, Matisyahu is a Hasidic Jew who raps like a rastafarian. He was absolutely amazing to watch, and that was just on the television. The best part may have been when he threw his fedora off (don't worry, he had a yarmulke underneath) and did some crowd-diving.

feodoric @ 2005-06-03T22:16:00

2005-06-04T02:26:58Z

NYC has its own television channel. NYCTV, channel 25. It is full of awesome programs:

New York Noise, an hour of music videos by NY bands, or directed by NY people, or that are just cool. They give preference to NY bands and directors. Each week it's hosted by a different musical personality. Two weeks ago we had teatime with Tommy Ramone, and this week Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner (Fischerspooner) had some relationship therapy.

Into the Archives, where they show you parts of the gigantic array of archived photos posessed by various NY institutions. We saw an awesome video from the NYC Fire Department college, explaining the proper use of ladders. It went through how to lift, place and carry the 35 ft ladder, the 15 ft ladder, and the 35 ft extending ladder.

$9.99, which shows how to have a fun day in the city for less than 10 dolla.

All the commercials are about NY as well.

*edit*
Also, more cities should have Bill Nye's new show
*/edit*

feodoric @ 2005-06-02T21:32:00

2005-06-03T01:39:24Z

I now have a resume on monstercom, and have started applying to jobs. Hooray! Now I need to get a haircut. The longer my hair gets, the poofier it gets, which makes me sad. I can't get the back to be ruly. It's like I've got a tribble on my head or something.

feodoric @ 2005-06-02T11:00:00

2005-06-02T15:07:47Z

10 most harmful books of the 19th and 20th centuries

Oh man.

#7, The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan
"In The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan, born in 1921, disparaged traditional stay-at-home motherhood as life in “a comfortable concentration camp”--a role that degraded women and denied them true fulfillment in life. She later became founding president of the National Organization for Women. Her original vocation, tellingly, was not stay-at-home motherhood but left-wing journalism."

#5, Democracy and Education, John Dewey (the quotes around skills are not mine)
"In Democracy and Education, in pompous and opaque prose, he disparaged schooling that focused on traditional character development and endowing children with hard knowledge, and encouraged the teaching of thinking “skills” instead."

Runners up include On Liberty by John Stuart Mills, Origin of the Species and Descent of Man By Charles Darwin, and of course, Unsafe at any Speed by Ralph Nader.

feodoric @ 2005-06-02T02:11:00

2005-06-02T06:58:34Z

Here's a start on an update for my life so far this summer.

I'm in NYC, living with my parents and brother. Although my brother is hardly ever here. He just got done with his freshman year of the college (Hunter, part of the CUNY network). He spends a buncha time with his gf, and with other people he knows. He's been gone this time since sunday evening.

Currently looking for a job/internship. Currently looking into stuff on monstertrak, craigslist, etc. I'm also going to be contacting the father of one of my brother's friends, John, once I can get into contact with my brother and find out the father's name. (Sam is staying at this friends house, and I have the number, but I can't very well call up and say "hi, can I talk to... John's father? Hi, John's father, I'm interested in working for you.") Apparently, this guy made scads of money starting up and being CEO of an internet security software company. The board recently voted him out, so he started a second software company. Also going to be hitting up various temp agencies.

I saw summer of code on slashdot recently. Basically, students get paired up with open source software organizations to work on some open source project over the summer. If you're successful (determined by the organization you are paired with) then you get $4500. How cool is that? The problem is that you have to have some idea of how you want to contribute, and I know next to nothing about the various projects that have signed up with google. So maybe I'll be doing some research to try and get in on that.

Been playing some PS2 stuff. Just acquired Dynasty Warriors 5, SSX3 and Kingdom Hearts, all of which I enjoy immensely. This is even though Kingdom Hearts is one of the worst offenders in the 'next step of plot is only triggered if you visit these locations, even though we haven't given you ANY hint of what you should do' group of RPGs. But it's good. And then there's snowboarding and destroying entire armies with a single unit.

I've also been trying to find recreational activities to participate in. I like playing videogames, but I also like a certain degree of social interaction. So I've been looking into LARPs and ultimate frisbee. Frisbee is easy to find. There are pickups every weekend, and sometimes during the week (wednesday night frisbee in the dark, with a lightup frisbee). Haven't been to games yet, 'cuz I wasn't in the city this past weekend.

But you know how many LARPs I've found in this city of more than 8 million people? Five. One of them is on hiatus due to brain tumor. Two of them are camarilla larp, meaning i'd have to join the camarilla (plus, one is requiem, the other is whatever werewolf is now). One is changeling, which I'm not particularly interested in. And the last one won't let me play a malkavian. Does that seem weird to anyone else, or am I just being bitchy because none of them are what I want?

The last one also requires that all new characters be childer of existing characters. I understand that this is so that everyone is in some way tied into plot. And having interacted with some of the players, I can see why the storytellers would want this as a standard. But in my eyes, it removes at least half of your character's background from your control. Sure, you get to write your human years, but you have to come up with some reason that someone else's PC would embrace you, and then your character is basically coauthored. Maybe if I hadn't gone to talk to the storyteller with such a strong idea of what I wanted to play, I would be more open to this. But since my concept included as a fairly important part the murder of my sire, and I had designed the character as a malkavian...

Bittorrent is perhaps the best thing on this planet. I am currently in posession of every Exalted book thus far published (excepting The Autochthonians and Bone and Ebony. But those are on their way). I've also downloaded a near-complete library of Vampire books (this is excepting dark ages material). I'm almost done downloading a complete Werewolf library, and the Hunter and Demon libraries are waiting in the queue. So if anyone has any requests for stuff that I should try and find, leave me a note, and we'll see what can be done.

It is now 3 AM, and I am going to bed.

feodoric @ 2005-06-01T12:08:00

2005-06-01T16:15:32Z

Maybe posting this meme will jumpstart me into posting more often. ::shrugs::

Anyways, meme from conanmagruder, google your name and 'is', in quotes together ("Russell is"), pick the best 10 sentences.

Russell is extra special.

Russell is a city of the second class and is the largest city in the country.

Russell is an outstanding martial artist.

Russell is responsible for the 'Cult Themes' trend of the nineties.

Russell is a being that likes to amuse himself so much that he is amusing.

Russell is nominated to become Speaker pro tem of the Georgia House of Representatives.

Good thing because by this time, Russell is very hungry.

Russell is a gem.

The lower section of the Russell is a great training ground for beginner and intermediate paddlers. this sounds pretty dirty

It is with a heavy heart that I have to tell you that our recently released wombat, Russell, is dead from a motor vehicle accident. this is definitely the best one

feodoric @ 2004-12-29T20:53:00

2004-12-30T02:00:31Z

We've all at this point heard that the US is pledged to donate $15 million to the relief effort. We've also all probably heard about the UN official who "slams US as 'stingy' over aid." And we might have heard George W. Bush defend the pledge, using the words "the person who made that statement was very misguided and ill-informed."

Mr. Bush...
Did you know that the UN official didn't say anything about the US? Do you know how hilariously sad it is for you to make such a comment, based on a news story and no actual intelligence? I know that the news is full of lies, and I'm not the president. I mean, for goodness sakes, the UN provides streaming audio of the press conference where this "controversial" statement took place.

Santy Claus

2004-12-24T23:18:08Z

If you are one of those poor unfortunate souls who thinks that santa doesn't exist, NORAD has something to say to you.

And if you are one of the believers, you should visit that site as well.

And here is the last word on how santa manages to travel to so many houses without disentegrating or vaporising.

that song meme

2004-12-21T19:44:15Z

Do I did that ten song meme thing, and some of the songs are pretty funny. Specifically #4. So here it is.

1) I've been searching for a man/All across Japan

2) So take care madam/And be gone

3) Made up babies all rotate as a siren spins a beam of amber

4) don't forget da innuendo/play me like nintendo

5) I'm rolling through the hood on a Saturday night/got a 40 in my left hand, my dick in my right

~~6) I saw him dancin' there by the record machine/I knew he must a been about seventeen~~

7) I'm wearin' Fur pyjamas/I ride a Hot potata'

8) Be constructive with your blues/Even when it's only warnings

9) Who's in a bunker?/Who's in a bunker?/Women and children first

~~10) I don't believe you, you're not the truth/No one could look as good as you~~

feodoric @ 2004-12-15T02:23:00

2004-12-15T08:27:51Z

Ooh, everyone else who is up this late is updating their journal, so I will too.

ummm...

I like the idea of writing this paper, but actually doing it is not so much fun. I think I need more philosophy practice, because I have these idea thingies, but don't usually know how to make them come out of my brain and travel through the world to someone elses brain.

the end.

feodoric @ 2004-12-13T21:01:00

2004-12-14T03:08:29Z

So I'd like to have watched the wizard of earthsea miniseries tonight, but there was no way for me to do it. I should have watched it somewhere by myself, instead of trying to run it as an event. It was just impossible to try and enjoy watching it at all, when every thirty seconds, someone sitting in the lounge would start talking, once again, about how this or that character was made up, or this twenty seconds of footage didn't happen in the books.

And the talking got exponentially worse throughout the evening! Every time someone new came in the lounge, everyone that was already sitting there had to go through the explanation of what was wrong with the show so far. So when I left after the first hour, it was pretty much just a constant barrage of people repeating the various things that scifi got wrong.

feodoric @ 2004-12-09T17:52:00

2004-12-10T00:00:07Z

Do you know how much a gigapixel is? Do you know how much 4 gigapixels is?

They do.

**edit, fixed the link**

feodoric @ 2004-12-09T12:26:00

2004-12-09T18:33:10Z

You scored as Neutral Good. A Neutral Good person tries to do the </td>

Neutral Good

70%

Chaotic Good

65%

True Neutral

60%

Lawful Good

60%

Lawful Evil

55%

Chaotic Evil

45%

Chaotic Neutral

35%

Lawful Neutral

35%

Neutral Evil

25%

What is your Alignment?
created with QuizFarm.com

angrybunnyman made me do it.

feodoric @ 2004-12-06T17:40:00

2004-12-06T23:45:31Z

Just because I want to be at least the second person to post about my birthday:

this weekend, saturday the eleventh, I'll be turning 21.

in the words of gir... "Finally!"

feodoric @ 2004-12-01T00:34:00

2004-12-01T06:39:28Z

Thank you to all the people today who in some way let me know that they like me. You are all very cool people, and made me a very happy panda.

Making snowzilla with a mass of people was very fun. I expect to see many pictures of him in the coming days.

feodoric @ 2004-11-10T22:59:00

2004-11-11T05:04:42Z

I had to go to a practice talk today for someone's computer science colloquium. While sitting there, listening to him talk about the implementation of distributed hash functions in p2p networks, and the difference in complexity of different algorithms, I discovered my paper topic for consequentialism.

I love my majors. They so cool.

feodoric @ 2004-11-09T00:25:00

2004-11-09T06:32:47Z

I beat frustration the trivia game. 11558 registered users, and only 185 of them have won the game.

BAM

feodoric @ 2004-11-03T11:45:00

2004-11-03T17:49:44Z

Fill out the form here to express your outrage over Kerry conceding before all the fucking votes have been counted. It's like disenfranchisement.

feodoric @ 2004-10-28T12:54:00

2004-10-28T17:58:17Z

These guys are so cool. 2 guitars+drum+bass = NES music! hottt.

feodoric @ 2004-10-27T16:34:00

2004-10-27T21:37:27Z

I gave my presentation in consequentialism today, so I'm done worrying about that. I'm counting it as a success because I didn't throw up. Now all I have to worry about is friday, where I dance around onstage half-naked for your amusement.

I've discovered that if I just chant "freak out" over and over, like a mantra, I don't actually freak out.