Nov 30 – Cool Math
Most of you know I am not a mathematician, but a wordsmith instead. So when I saw that a few mathematicians had put together a study on how bad a zombie outbreak would be, I did feel a little twinge of regret that my numbers game isn't better. I suppose that's some of what math geeks do for fun?
The rain has abated here, to be replaced with sunny skies and low temperatures. Coming from Ontario, the cold here isn't really all that bad, as I'm used to lake effect snow and temperatures. To hear people talk around here though is to expect things to stay around ten degrees all winter, and for this 'cold spell' of low single-digit days to dissipate fairly soon. Depending on how quickly the arctic air mass that's slamming the Prairies decides to move on, the frost may soon leave the flowers here alone once more.
Work on my NWN project has slowed to a crawl, which is sad but not at all unexpected. Everyone involved is massively busy, with one friend now in China – with his new bride! We're all still passing messages back and forth, but for those who are still in school the workload is quite heavy – both for the ones who are students and the ones who are teachers. Still, nothing is forever, so I am hopeful that the New Year will see an easing of time constraints
Dec 1 – Meat Jars
Another month, another reason to avoid the Christmas Craze. As I mentioned a few blog entries ago, I don't step foot in a shopping mall as of today, Dec 1st – I can't stand it. Used to be when I was a lot younger( and the malls thusly seemed bigger )that I loved Christmastime, heading to the Big Malls of Hamilton or Toronto on special shopping trips to see all the holiday store displays at Eaton's or Simpsons. My favourites were the Lego displays, vast and fanciful creations that for a few years made me itch to return for the next one, bigger and grander than the last. Reminds me now of the FAO Schwarz Toy Store in New York city, that I had wanted to visit when I was there in the early 90's for a school trip but just couldn't manage to fit it in.
Being a new month we also have the I09 December SciFi Guide, which has shows like V and FlashForward on it – neither of which I've found time to follow. Since I don't have a PVR anymore( it's keeping my parents quite happy )it's harder to catch up on shows. I'm tempted to dust off the VCR and wire it back into my setup, which would work as the Shaw digital cable box has the ability to change channels on a timer to allow a VCR( or computer? )to record properly. Since I have a ton of old tapes, that may be an idea – I'll try it out when I have some time.
Closer to reality: scientists have succeeded in growing live pork in a jar. Why is this important, you ask? Well, aside from eliminating the slaughter of animals for meat( insert cheering vegans here )it means that resources will be saved from the rather inefficient process of raising animals for the table. And of course it means you could also grow all the bacon you want!
Which may also be important if you are planning to survive a disaster / apocalypse / world-ending event. I recently read "Not Your Ordinary Survival Checklist" in the Oct. 2009 Popular Mechanics issue, which is by no means a comprehensive guide – instead, you can find one here, courtesy of FEMA.
Dec 2 - Technology
Nowadays, you can buy computers with as many as 8 CPU cores inside – eight processors packed onto a single chip. Mind-boggling. Yet we've not begun to see the limits of this tech... for news of a 48-core chip has come down the pipe. Issues with rising heat and power consumption has forced companies like Intel to move down the parallel computing path, inevitably leading to computers in the near future having thousands of processing cores inside. Whoa.
Still, no matter how many cores you have inside a PC, there's still the operating system to contend with. So far, Windows 7 has been fairly decent, but it's still quirky in some ways. Aside from programs not wanting to start, the only major glitch I've experienced is the so –called "Black Screen of Death." Twice so far, the laptop has simply turned into a black screen with a blinking cursor, reminding me of the old DOS days when that meant it was time to search for your data on those backup floppy disks you made last month... you DID remember to make them, right? Hopefully it's a patch or two away from being fixed, but since it's Microsoft, we may never know just how prevalent the problem actually is – much like the Xbox360's Red Ring Of Death issue. Which is often fixable by wrapping it in a towel – go figure!
Sometimes technology has the capacity to some real good, for fairly low cost. I've just learned that it may soon be possible to detect depression over the phone via software. Very cool and very useful; imagine if a warning light started flashing when someone was calling a HelpLine( or even a doctor's or police phone )that the person on the other end was in need of depression assistance? Vital clues that may soon be part of our ever-changing social fabric. But we do still have to worry about technology being used for evil...
Dec 3 – The Third Dimension
This week has been a heavy one at work, as one of our employees has returned after a two-month absence due to an injury. I've been easing them back into the routine, as well as introducing them to several major products that have come online since they left. It's meant ten or eleven hour days for the most part this week, but I've also been impressed with the way they've picked things up again so quickly after several months off. So much so that I am hopeful that they'll be totally back into the swing of things by the end of January... just in time for tax season to start.
Google StreetView came to my area recently, which led to mixed reception per the norm from locals. For those of you who are interested, fire up Google Maps and have a look. My address should be in most of your hands by now, so you can take a browse around my neighbourhood – I've already checked, and my house is plainly visible, as the Google StreetView Van passed right by on my road. It's pretty cool, overall – I went for a virtual tour of my town of Langford, along with a few of the other places I've been, and I like the concept.
3D scanning with ordinary webcam is another thing altogether – this is pretty cool stuff, folks. Up until now, 3d object scanners have been horrifically expensive, clumsy or both. Now you can do it with a simple webcam and an ordinary PC. While not quite at the commercially viable stage yet, the video on this website is really impressive. I'd love to be able to scan in objects for use in game design, saving hours of design time – to be sure, details would still need to be refined and tweaked, but it would sure save time over building things from scratch.
Dec 4 – Lego and Left4Dead2
Though I haven't dragged out the old suitcase full of Lego in years, I still credit the little plastic blocks with firing my imagination as a child. I've posted before in this blog about the various levels of Legomania that people retain over the years, but so far it's all been benign. Now that's changed: a man in Toronto was recently taken down( unhurt )by a SWAT team as he showed off the Lego gun he had just received by mail order... at the office. Kinda dumb, but then it's nice to know that Canadian Police forces are on the ball... this sort of thing might have gone unnoticed south of the border.
I've been getting into playing Left 4 Dead 2 on and off all this week, which I've really enjoyed. The game is a really enjoyable experience, which brings you into the whole survival-horror experience: fighting against hopeless odds, blasting zombie hordes with your comrades at your side. Unlike a lot of other online games, the whole experience depends on how well everyone works as a team. I've never had as satisfying team experience as I have with L4D2 when pulling pals back from the brink of death and stumbling along with them towards the safety of the end of the level. The same goes when I am incapacitated, and the warm glow when your buddies come back for you and drag you to safety is hard to describe, other than it's lacking in so many other multiplayer games.
I've been back driving on the streets for about a week now, having renewed my licence after being on hiatus since my birthday last summer – what can I say? I'm cheap: between riding my bike, getting dropped off and taking the occasional bus, I haven't needed to drive much this year, at all. Sure, it's nice to have the freedom to just hop in the car and go, but I've made a conscious decision since moving to Victoria to minimize my 'fooprint' so to speak – maybe some of the West Coast environmental mindset has rubbed off on me? Hopefully not too much; I don't want to start wearing wooden shoes or clothes made from seaweed.
Dec 5 – Cardboard Clashing
This morning I headed into Victoria for a few reasons, but we stopped first for breakfast at Kitty's Hideaway. The portions were generous, the price was right and the decor was perfect: it hadn't been updated in at least a decade, which means the money was being spent on the food, not the paint. After checking out most of the places to eat breakfast at in Niagara with Brian years ago, I've become somewhat of an authority on the matter. Good food, unpretentious surroundings and a great price are the three things to look for, anywhere you decide to eat.
Years ago, I was part of the SCA, which had within it's ranks those who fought in armour, with rattan swords. While I didn't end up taking that path( I went for the archery instead )there was always the thought in my head to pursue it at a later date – and here it is closing on fifteen years later when I discovered BoxWars. Now don't take this the wrong way: I enjoyed my time in the SCA, but a lot of folks there took things a little too seriously... whereas it's obvious that those people who are involved in BoxWars take nothing seriously. Take a look at the Toronto chapter's website and you'll see what I mean – looks like fun in those videos!
Shockingly, I hopped onto XboxLive and found a few friends playing MW2... so I joined in. There went the evening, which wasn't half-bad, though I faded towards the end. We had some really enjoyable games in there, where everyone on both sides were in good moods – no griefers, goof-offs or general 'neer-do-wells to be found. It was a thoroughly enjoyable four-to-five hours. Woof! I've enjoyed unlocking some of the perks as I play – my fave to date is Cold-Blooded, which helps enormously in remaining undetected by enemy players, and fits right in with my low-profile playing style.
Dec 6 – New Landlords
Today started out slowly enough: we had the new landlords over at 11am to discuss a few things, do a walkthrough and sign a new lease for the year... which ended up taking over three hours! The new couple( who have a young son )are great, worlds better than the previous landwitch – every issue we discussed looks to be resolved positively. They plan on doing renovations to the lower apartment to improve the space in several ways, making it far more sound-isolative as well as improving the property in other ways. By the end of the meeting, we could tell that everyone was feeling very good about the change.
Once the power was back on. I unsurprisingly spent the remainder of the day playing MW2 – when so many of your friends are on at the same time each week, it's great to be able to game with them. I do miss the LAN-party Halo Days we had at Simon's, but this is better in some ways, apart from the need to haul Xboxes, wires, TV's and sundry food supplies over to his place once a week. Yet though I spent the same amount of time back then gaming, my eyes didn't hurt after eight solid hours – I must be getting older, or need to take more breaks.
Also, it was Lucas' birthday today, so I was happy to 'see' him online( and very happy )later in the evening in MW2. One of the things that's been hard about moving out west is not being able to celebrate events like birthdays in person, and sending gifts just isn't my style – I'd rather be there in person. Moreso for the company, less for the beer – but both are good in combination, as well as moderation. So happy birthday, Lucas... one of these days I'll be @ the Kilt at the right time to hoist a cold one to ye.
Monday updates seem to be a trend of late, with my being busy. Or tired. Or something.
