I just got my MCAS results back, and I’m all advanced. That’s in Writing, Reading, ‘Rithmatic, and R’science and engineering. Pretty cool, methinks.
A Series of Tubes
An archive of old posts.
Author Archives: admin
My Mac
Today I cleaned my Macbook Pro’s screen for the first time, a suprisingly fun and enriching experience. I visited the Apple store and on impulse bought a pack of iKlear travel thingies for $15, and tried them out at home. I discovered that what I considered to be my normal screen was actually covered in dust, fingerprints, and little spots from flecks of hyper cousins and others drooling over my computer. I can honestly say that my screen is now brighter and shinier (which actually means something with a glossy screen). It was very fun to watch the dust and fingerprints magically disappear…
On a more depressing note, Apple recently released Intel Core 2 Duo Macbook Pros, meaning yes….my computer is outdated. Oh well, I am usually running at less than 20% of my Core Duo’s full capacity (thats 20% on each core, meaning actually 40%…), I don’t know what I’d do with a 64 bit version of my computer…still, the new airport card would be nice, as well as the bigger hard drive and faster superdrive…
Happy Birthday, iPod!
Today, 5 years ago, the iPod was first introduced by Steve Jobs. It was meant to become (and did a very good job becoming) the market leader for portable music. It’s so strange to watch this video and listen to His Steveness say “iPod” instead of “The iPod,” and see what stone-age technology was available before the iPod. Funniest to watch, however, is the crowd’s stony silence as the iPod is announced. What a contrast to today, when a new product announcement by Apple is met with a huge applause. The iPod really was Apple’s modern ticket to ride, I guess.
Original iPod Announcement
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN0SVBCJqLs]
Also of intrest are the videos of the OS X announcement back in January 2000:
Part One
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko4V3G4NqII]
Part Two
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-fkYFV7rOY]
Part Three
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GkoAa5718Y]
Very cool Apple stuff.
Power Cord Blues
The Magsafe power adapter for my Macbook Pro recently started breaking. By breaking, I mean the rubber split, the insulation was falling out, and the little copper wires were fraying. Obviously, this was very concerning, since exposed power cords are dangerous, and the fraying meant that charging my computer would be a lot harder than it was before.
Day 2 of the damage. By today, day 5, the cord looked a lot worse than this.
Yes, that is Winnie the Pooh on that shelf. đ
Well, I worked for a while with the incision in the cable, twisting it and pushing the electrical tape I put on it to get it to charge, but last night it just wouldn’t charge. Well, I went the night and until 4:00 today computerless, with my precious Uru disc stuck inside, and then finally went to the Apple store to get a new one. My computer is still covered by the warranty, and luckily they (after some persuasion) exchanged the adapter for a new one, free of charge. So now I have a brand new power adapter that works like a charm.
The only thing worrying me now is what I should do to prevent this from happening again. I know it wasn’t my fault that the cord stopped working, and the Apple Guy seemed to be of the opinion that it was bad wiring that caused it to break. Still, I don’t want it to break again. If it does, though…I’ll be ready.
School Bans Tag
A school in Boston (not far from my home) has banned tag, touch football, and other chase games for fear of the kids getting hurt during recess and suing the school. This means that these kids have next to no chance of actually learning anything during recess. A common misconception is that kids don’t ever learn anything during recess, but this is when social skills develop, and if they aren’t allowed to make mistakes and learn from them, how will they learn the lessons not taught in school? This is just one more way we are becoming more and more sheltered, moving closer and closer to a ‘utopia’ like presented in The Giver and other such stories. Way to go, Boston.
Macintosh SE
Today I was out buying a costume from a store when I saw a Macintosh SE lying on a pile of garbage bags. Being the computer enthusiast I am, I grabbed it and took it home. Even if it didn’t actually work (Why would it? Who would throw out a perfectly good Macintosh SE?), it would still be really cool to have it.
When I got it home and plugged it in, lo and behold it turned on! Yeah. It was really cool. Not as dramatic as the startup noise of modern Macs, but the little “bing” is awesome all the same. I couldn’t actually do anything with it, since it didn’t have a mouse or keyboard, and the Macintosh mouse and keyboard I have don’t work with it. The trash can icon is full, I wonder whats in it…does anyone know where I can get a keyboard and mouse for an SE?
Also, for the fun of it, I took a picture with the SE next to Eve, my Macbook Pro. It’s very cool.
Click to enlarge
New Theme (again), K2
I’ve changed my blog’s theme yet again. this time to the brand new K2 Lite. I like it, and I’m working on a custom header image. đ Comments?
Happy Friday the 13th!
Happy Friday the 13th, and in October to top it off! Sorry I haven’t been posting that much lately, school has been keeping me pretty busy…Oh well, I’ll post again if I get the chance. Here’s a bit of negative space work I did for an anonymous client. Ain’t it awesome?
click to enlarge
It’s a Y and an A, if you couldn’t tell. And it’s using 2 point perspective. Uhhh…Yeah.
Fasting
Well, it’s Yom Kippur again, and being part Jewish I figured “what the hell, I’ll fast this year”. Well, now I’m paying the consequences. I’m really, really, freaking, hungry. Then again, DI is Muslim, and he’s in Ramadan right now. He’s been fasting for a week now, I think.
Video Game Decency Act
GamePolitics has a report on Senator Upton’s (A Republican from Michigan) new bill. The Video Game Decency Act, it’s called. The act would make it legal for the FCC to fine game companies which hide content of their games in order to gain a lower ESRB rating.
On the surface, this seems fine. The game companies should accept the ratings their games deserve. However, the reason this bill came about was the Hot Coffee mod for GTA: San Andreas. This mod accessed code that was in the game, but was in no way accessible through playing the game. The new bill would require ESRB to completely play through a game before giving it a rating, which means that it misses the purpose completely. There’s no way to account for every single hack, patch, custom map, and easter egg for every game out there. Take Oblivion, for example. The official gameplay alone is enough to keep a softcore gamer like me busy for at least 3 months, and maybe 2 months for a hardcore gamer. Then there are official hacks and patches for the game which would require more time to test, and unofficial patchs and hacks which would make the game virtually unreleasable due to lack of “proper” testing. I think Nightwing sums it up pretty well in a comment on that article:
It wasnât hidden material that could be accessed through gameplay.
It was unused code that, by design, was supposed to be not part of the game.
Access to the code was NOT made by official patches or upgrades by the company.
Access to the code was NOT made by official unlockable codes provided within the official software.
Access was provided by non publisher, non developer, non official means.
Access was provided by non company personnel and therefore was a modification of said product that was NOT official intended.
I can think of a number of products whose use could be modified or interpreted to allow the product to be used in a manner that the creating company did not intend for the product.
If said products can be modified or interpreted to be used by some individuals in a manner which -I- feel is âindecentâ, can I then demand the company who created the product be fined, at the least, because itâs product COULD be used by other individuals for purposes other than what the company claims the product was intended?
If someone can come up with a way to use a product in a way that was not intended to be used by the maker of the product, can we really hold the maker responsible for how the product is used?
nightwng2000
NW2K Software
I hope this bill doesn’t go through, for the sake of all the gamers out there…