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November 30th, 2009
01:05 pm - Two things! One of them today-only
Alright, first off, 8-Bit Megaman Deathmatch: http://cutstuff.net/blog/?p=1677
Second!
Mass Effect, the game widely hailed as basically the best Science Fiction thing for ages:
FIVE DOLLARS http://www.direct2drive.com/6032/product/Buy-Mass-Effect-Download
Today only.
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October 13th, 2009
01:49 am - I'm not good enough.
I'm better.
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October 9th, 2009
September 4th, 2009
10:09 pm - Buh. Well.
Hyperbole in the article, yes, but I can't help but agree with the conclusions:
http://gizmodo.com/5353138/microsoft-wants-you-to-vote-which-childrens-hospitals-will-be-denied-xboxes
Microsoft, evil? Here, very yes.
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September 3rd, 2009
11:05 am - Okay, what?
"The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has found that federal hate-speech legislation violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the equivalent of the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/hate-speech-law-violates-charter-rights-tribunal-rules/article1273956/
/Unexpected/.
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August 11th, 2009
09:08 pm - Crap.
I just realized, I'm at serious risk of turning into a hardware nerd.
Because I think /this/ http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835214001 is beautiful:
120mm! 1500 RPM, moving 69.15 CFM, at only 18 dBA!
...
Augh.
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07:55 pm - After repeatedly glazing my eyeballs at Newegg.ca...
...I've managed to /just about/ settle on this setup here. I'm not even going to bother cringing at the price - this is a five year investment to last me through school, and unlike a car that I don't currently have any crippling need for, doesn't require regular expensive maintainance, gasoline, insurance risk, and etc.
( Words below the cut )
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August 5th, 2009
08:24 pm - Huh.
I did not know this.
"During their appeal, Fox asserted that there that there are no written rules against distorting news in the media. They argued that, under the First Amendment, broadcasters have the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on the public airwaves. Fox attorneys did not dispute Akre's claim that they pressured her to broadcast a false story; they simply maintained that it was their right to do so. After the appeal verdict, WTVT general manager Bob Linger commented. It's vindication for WTVT, and we re very pleased ... It's the case we've been making for two years. She never had a legal claim.""
http://www.articlearchives.com/law-legal-system/trial-procedure-appellate-decisions/829949-1.html
Knowing it makes me a little more bitter and cynical.
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August 2nd, 2009
11:38 am - Huh
Apparantly, my community has both come up with and actually implemented a city-wide broadband wifi network.
This amazes and impresses me greatly, though unfortunately it doesn't reach my dorm. Still, it reaches damn near everywhere else, and is currently free while they work out the bugs!
I thought successful community wifi networks were a myth! Glad to be proven wrong on that.
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July 30th, 2009
12:03 pm - Update the 3rd
In my rush to exert my will upon the greater reality, I forgot to include internet access.
Which the new dorm room does not have, and is unlikely to have until sometime in September.
D'oh, again, but less emphatically, as I recognize that without the distraction of it, I am likely to bloom mighty arts.
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11:19 am - *exerts reality distortion field*
Alright, got that taken care of, I'll still have a roof over my head for August and the Fall Semester, staying in dorm, but I've got to be moved out /today/.
Brb.
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09:07 am - D'oh, not a deer.
April: "Oh hey, if you're going to be staying in dorm over August and into the Fall Semester, we need you to sign this statement of intent that you're going to be staying, okay? Cool."
June: "Oh hey, if you're going to be staying over August and into the Fall Semester in dorm, you gotta sign this second statement of intent, just so we know we got you in the system. Cool, right?"
(yeah, you know where this is going, huh?)
July: "Oh, no, you can't pay dorm rent for August or the Fall Semester! Not till you've paid for the Fall Semester classes. In full."
July 29: "Oh, you've paid for the Fall Semester, and you're here to pay August and Fall Semester dorm dorm fees? Okay, can I have your name please? Hmm. You're not in our system, I'm afraid there's a waiting list a gazillion names long, and you have to be out of here by August 1st. Sorry, thanks again!"
/>.<\
But! I did speak to the owner, who does remember me signing those statement of intent to stay things, and who I've spoken to a few times, who put a note in, and asked me to speak to the woman in charge of (the massively complex, apparantly) scheduling this morning, which I've done, and they were working on it for a half hour before I came in, and told me to come back in three hours while they worked on it.
Which leads me to believe they either really really like me, or do recognize some fault of their own. Which is great! If it gets me a room.
D'oh.
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July 26th, 2009
12:23 am - Computer box con't
This is hell of tempting: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229092
That said, I'm not getting a new comp till September at the earliest, but still - those specs, and that price, is looking pretty good to my untrained eye.
What it is basically:
Intel Core i7 920(2.66GHz)
6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 Tri Channel Memory
500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 7200RPM HDD
NVIDIA GeForce GTS250 512MB PCI Express Video Card
and etc., for about: $1,198.49
So yeah, if I wait a month, I can probably get a 1TB drive, 8GB RAM, 1GB graphics card, and a 3GHz i7 for about the same price.
Which isn't a huge upgrade, and that's untrained guessing, but I don't know. Still in research mode here. That's about the upper limit of what I'm willing to spend though - it's easy to keep pushing it up by $20-50, and next thing I know I'm looking at a $5k system. Gotta reign that in!
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July 25th, 2009
07:17 pm - Hmm, new computer box...
Well, this old laptop is finally starting to make me feel like it's about time to look at getting a new computer of some kind. Especially since I'm getting into graphics design and all that.
Also thinking of getting something that'll last me about 4-5 years - and yeah, I know computer obscelecence is measured in hours, not years, but I might as well give it a shot. No idea of a budget yet, but 'around $1000' is doable, with the caevat that I'm willing to spend a little more on 'core component' parts. If I'm going to have this thing for 4-5 years, I'll be able to upgrade RAM and such at my leisure.
That said, after some self-education and blind poking of newegg and anandtech, I've come up with some vague things here, and want to run them by anyone watching who knows more about this stuff than I do, get an idea if I'm on the right track or not.
Things that have gigantic numbers and therefore look good to me:
Processor: Intel Core i7 950 or 975 seem to be top of the line, though I'm not sure what's better to have - more Ghz, more cores?
RAM: DDR3 Tri Channel Memory - 4GB seems like overkill, so is probably what's standard these days.
HD: SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 7200RPM HDD seems good? I don't know, 1 TB? My sense of proportion is all off.
Hardly need a DVD except for an Ubuntu disc, and no use at all for a Blu-ray drive.
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 I hear is a pretty capable card, but graphics cards are obseleted by the second.
Motherboard: The Intel X58 chipset looks to be what to get if I want any kind of an Intel i7 processor. As I'm aiming to put my best money in the mobo and the proc, updating the rest at leisure, I'll want to do pretty good here.
And that's really as far as my admittedly cursory research has taken me. I've got even less of a clue about power supplies or cases, though looking at those numbers I'd probably need a hefty power supply. More than 120 watts, probably closer to 800W? These numbers are getting big again.
So alright - with a budget of, lets say, $1500 CDN (really, $1k would be far more realistic), should I be able to look at putting together a more or less 'modern' computer (without getting cut by the bleeding edge). Again, wanting to futureproof this a bit by spending more on the mobo and proc, and upgrading the rest as budget permits.
Sorry if any of that is incoherent, it's mostly incoherent to me.
I mean, I'm looking at something like this: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229092 which has what seems like impressive specs, and costs only a little more than I'm willing to spend (meaning I'm willing to pay if I'm getting my money's worth)...
BUT - /anything/ called a 'CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme' makes me gag a little, and anything with a caselight makes me pretty sure I'm being ripped off.
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July 22nd, 2009
04:57 am - Sunrise: Get!
Alright, now it really wouldn't be right going back to bed. Still, sunrise! I consider that a win. Y'know, a sunrise over near-distant hills is actually a very dynamic thing to watch, if you keep turning your head every five minutes and don't watch it continiously.
...
I will probably nap in like ten hours.
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04:46 am - Ugh.
Not even 5am. Ugh, why am I awake. Oh well. Time for stuff do I guess.
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July 21st, 2009
04:00 pm - Laptop Trackpad Sketch
Y'know, tiny laptop trackpads on 5 year old laptops make for crappy drawing tools. Still, I figured I'd give it a test while I'm downtown here having a quick coffee - ten minutes, maybe?
Anyway, for the experiment it is, I suppose I can be happy with it.
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July 20th, 2009
09:54 am - This
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=207213
What I've learned so far pursuing a BA of Fine Arts in a University setting, is that ignorance is celebrated above all else, as long as you can paint or draw how you feel about something.
Learning about how to draw, or mix color, or compose a scene is less important than being able to, for example 'draw how you /feel/ about a tree'.
Which is well and good, but I'm not here to have my creativity co-opted and extinguised by dogma. I have my own creativity - what I want to learn are the skills to express it.
Such skills are anathema to modern University-oriented Fine Arts education, in my experience.
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July 19th, 2009
12:53 am - He's outta control!
(from elsewhere)
Wikipedia Line of the Day:
"It is thought that the club sandwich was invented in an exclusive Saratoga Springs, New York, gambling club in the late 19th century by a maverick line cook named Danny Mears."
A maverick line cook.
...
YOU'RE A LOOSE CANNON, MEARS! BUT YOU MAKE A DAMN GOOD SANDWICH!
Adding lettuce to that sandwich won't bring back your partner or your little girl, Mears!
Roast beef and swiss?! Mears, what kind of town did you grow up in?
The Mayor's gonna have your badge AND your ass on lightly toasted bread spread with mayo and a bit of hard boiled egg, Mears! And when he's done, he's gonna use the included toothpick in a way dentists warn you against!
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