My Nemo Knowledge Certificate

Before you show disdain for my score, I was taking the quiz in Japanese.

New Year’s Weekend

Games played yesterday:

• Time’s Up
• L4D2 (XBox 360)
• Wasabi!
• Hare & Tortoise
• Mall of Horror
• ebay (electronic game)
• Smallworld

Smallworld continues to be a favorite, though I still think of it as Vinci Lite. Pillars would have hit the table, but we didn’t want to play it six player. Through The Ages continues to be a tough one to get played, mainly because of the steep learning curve and long playtime. We had a really good group, with a nice mix of gamers and non-gamers. We also had a ton of delicious alcoholic beverages, thanks to our bartender, B*. The five of us that were staying the night got quite snockered. We set up the second XBox for L4D2 so that three of us could play online at once. That was really fun. It’s nice to play L4D2 with people I know instead of just random strangers.

For the rest of the weekend, I’m doing some random home projects.

Keep Out

Slate.com’s Culture Gabfest had a discussion about a DOE project regarding how to tell people/life/whatever 10,000 years from now that our nuclear waste is still very dangerous and should be avoided, as it will be dangerous for at least that long. The topic came up thanks to this article on Slate by Juliet Lapidos. But, for what it’s worth, the topic has been on several sites, including an equally informative article over at Salon.com.

The problem we’re facing is that we don’t know who these people (if they are people) will be, much less the language they will speak. A skull and crossbones is used for poison in the US, but it’s also a symbol of pirates (and could mean nearby treasure) and a symbol of the Day of the Dead (a Hispanic/Catholic celebration of ancestors). Think about how much language and symbolism has changed in the past few hundred years, much less the past thousand. Shakespeare was being positively scandalous when he coined euphemisms like the “the beast with two backs”, but even a simple word like fuck would not have been understood a mere thousand years ago, whereas most people could probably reason out the euphemism. This having been said, do you go with flowery euphemisms about sickening, wasting, rotting death?

The amazing part of this is that it goes to belief far more than science. What will our distant descendants fear? What will convince them to stay away? The most frequent idea is to build some kind of landscape feature (imaginative titles abound: Landscape of Thorns, Menacing Earthworks, Forbidding Blocks) and include text in every known language saying, essentially, you will die horribly if you dig this up.

Sound familiar? The Egyptians built pyramids with similarly morbid warnings: your ancestors will suffer, your flesh will rot, and our gods will strike you down. The pyramids were vast stone structures elaborately crafted to keep people out. That method didn’t work for Egypt; we can’t think it will work for us. The problem was that, by the time we found the pyramids, our entire belief structure had changed. We had the powers of science, and a whole new kind of god was on the rise, one that generally forgave and protected instead of striking. We had no reason to believe what the Egyptians had written.

I don’t have an answer to the problem, but it makes me wonder. What if Stonehenge isn’t some monument to an ancient god or time? What if it’s a marker for a dirty area that has now become clean with time? What if it was a disease-ridden zone, but our evolution allowed us immunity?

And that having been the case, will our 10,000-years-hence descendants be immune to radiation? Will this be a moot point?

Windows 7

I’ve upgraded to Windows 7 on my main computer (Happy). Sadly, DH’s computer (Allison) can’t upgrade to Win7. There are many drivers for his machine that aren’t available, plus his hard drive is overloaded already, so we’d have to clean that off first.

Happy was running Vista (which I did and still do love), so my upgrade process was the simpler upgrade. In fact, when Win7 was done, I initially wasn’t sure it had even happened, because my desktop looked the same. (I had been using RocketDock as a shortcut/menu replacement app, so the taskbar wasn’t apparent.) It took about 2.5 hours for the upgrade to happen. I only needed to be in front of the computer for the first 20 minutes and the last 5 minutes, but my computer was essentially AFK for the upgrade process.

Having upgraded, I do like some of the neat Aero features (Peek, Shake, and Snap are very handy). I like the improved taskbar, to the point that I’ve currently abandoned Rocketdock. I haven’t noticed any huge speed improvements yet. It’s worth noting, too, that Win7 copied my “don’t bug me about stupid security warnings” preference from Vista, so my experience and your out-of-the-box experience may differ based on your settings (or lack of settings if you come from XP).

I do really like the themes, although I find some of the wallpaper aesthetics to be a little too creepy for my taste…I had the same issue with Zune themes, and I think the same design team did the Win7 themes. Inhuman Tim Burton-esque babies laughing is freaky, not something I want to see on my desktop. For those unfamiliar, the Zune aesthetic feels to me like a modern interpretation of those cartoons that the Beatles had for their music. They’re colorful and complex but also kind of trippy and freakish at the same time.

At any rate, many of the lauded Win7 features are features I had in Vista, so I’m not having the revolutionary awesome that some folks will feel. If you’re coming from XP to Win7, there’s great things (that were in Vista) like easy media sharing between PCs (and Zunes and XBoxes and AT&T UVerse home TV boxes), so you can “stream” any video, music, or images on any shared PC to any compatible PC or box in the house. I can listen to my podcasts on the TV in the bedroom. The podcasts are on Happy, and I listen via UVerse’s box. (UVerse just keeps getting better, by the way. The media share feature was added last month, and it very nearly eliminates my need for an XBox on the upstairs TV. The only thing UVerse hasn’t incorporated–and I think it’s obvious why–is video streaming.) So, that’s a feature that I’ve had via Vista for quite awhile now but will be new (or at least easier to use) for people using XP.

Overall, I was happy with my upgrade experience. I think if you’re already happily running Vista, there’s not that much that you gain. If you’re running XP, there’s alot to gain.

Create a Sun Jar: TsuKata’s Edition

This is a derivative of the Instructables/Lifehacker “Create Your Own Sun Jar” instructions. My version requires no screwdrivers or glue, which makes it simpler and easier than their version. Make sure to read all instructions before attempting this on your own.

MATERIALS AND COST:

• Glass Frosting Spray – $5 at Ace Hardware
• Solar garden lamps – $2 each at Sears (5)
• Ball Mason jars – $5 for group of 5 on eBay, plus $5 shipping
• Duck Clear packaging tape – had on hand
• Optional: Dasani bottle wrapper – had on hand
• NO TOOLS REQUIRED!

TOTAL COST: $25 for 5 sun jars

TIP: You can use glue instead of tape. I used tape because these are prototypes. But, the tape is holding up pretty darn well, even in the heat, so I may just stick with tape until it wears out. (STICK WITH…get it? Ha!!)

STEP 1: Materials and Space

Gather all your materials. Set up a workspace outdoors on a sunny, dry day. Make sure you have a surface that you don’t mind spraying on. Check the wind to make sure you stay upwind of your spray.

STEP 2: Frosting

Frost the jars. This is pretty simple. Open your jars and put them on your surface facing down. Start by shaking the frosting spray for about 2 minutes (as per the instructions on the can). Then, spray the jars. Try to get an even coat. You can see on the one on the far left that I overdid the frosting a little. You just need a light coat. In fact, when it goes on, it won’t necessarily seem like it’s frosted. Make sure to get the neck of the jar, but DO NOT SPRAY THE LIDS. In my case, my jars had removable lids, which made this part MUCH easier. Allow the jars to dry without being touched for at least one hour to be safe.

STEP 3: Lights


If you buy the exact brand of solar lights that I did (or look for one that works the same way), it’s just a twist off cap. They make it easy to twist off because there’s an auto/off switch inside. Look for lights that you can just twist off, and you avoid dealing with screwdrivers. (Lifehacker and Instructables went a step further by actually disassembling the cap. I skipped this step, which is what makes my version faster and easier.) You also want to make sure that the lights you get will fit your jars. I went for the smallest ones, which were also the cheapest. And lastly, make sure that the lights don’t have any large lenses over the solar panel, as this will interfere with getting power once they’re inside the jar lid.

STEP 4: Lids


Put a “crown” of tape around the light fixture as shown. (If you accidentally put it on the wrong way, you can always remove the tape and start over.) Then push the crown back, kind of like how you would push a banana peel or candy bar wrapper back. You’ll end up with half the tape on the fixture and half around the fixture in a ring. Then, put the fixture inside the lid, so that the solar panel will face out once the lid is back on the jar. Push the tape down around the fixture so that it forms a seal with the lid. Make sure that all the tape is inside the boundary of the lid, so that you’ll get a good seal on the jar.

OPTIONAL STEP 4a: Colors

You can use clear plastic wrappers or wrapping paper to add color to your lights. Just tape a piece over the LED bulb. Check the Lifehacker or Instructables guides for more details on this optional step. (I did this with one of them just to check it out. It’s dead simple to add this later and/or change it after you add it.)

STEP 5: Waiting is the hardest part.

Let the lids charge with sunlight, and let the jars dry.

RESULT: Sun jars!

I tested them out in my bathroom, which is completely dark. With moonlight, I imagine this will be plenty of light for our deck. I’ll probably do up a second batch to light our porch and walkway at some point. And, I might use this as a gift idea for this holiday season…

WBCs

I’m at the WBCs! So far, I like this convention. The people have been really nice and friendly. There’s a significant population of female and young gamers, which is a nice change of pace. There’s a bunch of restaurants in easy walking distance, plus the hotel puts out a really good spread at its various snack bars at a reasonable price. The hotel is older, but it’s nice enough once you take that into account…and the rate was really good. Plus, the best part is the games. I was afraid the “every game is a tournament” aspect would bug me, but the net result seems to be that people take the games seriously instead of just assing around. Also, the GMs REALLY take the games seriously. They take care to make sure the event is run smoothly and to resolve rules issues fairly. Many of them keep detailed statistics on the games that will be compiled and posted in a game report later this month.

The only exception to my praise for GMs has been the Empire Builder event. The GMs are really lax, if they show up at all. There’s little if any randomization of the event seating. And, for example, DH was in a game yesterday that they added a relatively unfamiliar player as a fifth person at the last minute…which meant his game ran a good hour longer than the others without being anywhere close to done. Plus, the GM originally said they’d adjudicate the game at 1:30, but then the GM left and didn’t tell anyone how to resolve it. Another GM helper came in and said to keep it going until 1:45 or until the original GM came back, but the original GM never came back. Then, that GM wanted to keep it going until 2pm, but a bunch of the players protested, as most of them were now going into their next event with almost no break, once you figure in time to break down and put away the game. (The one guy who wanted it to keep going was the unfamiliar player, who also was generally slowing the game down by asking irrelevant questions during his turn and such. And I mean, I’d feel bad for him, but he showed up late and let himself be added to a game as a fifth player, knowing that he didn’t know the game that well…and then was generally asshattish on top of slowing things down unnecessarily.) So, point being, I’m avoiding EB events here. Maybe I’m just spoiled to the TGA’s organization. I criticize the TGA often for being clique-y and often biased toward the clique, but they do run an excellent tournament.

The downside of the WBC is that it’s 2 hours from the nearest major airport. It’s also a con that runs 70% of its “open” events during the week. (The weekend is mostly semis and finals, with a few of the super-popular events still doing heats, e.g., Puerto Rico, St. Petersburg, TTR.) Thus, you really need to arrive by Tuesday evening. Granted, that’s only one day earlier than I’d typically arrive at GenCon, but the point being that, if you don’t make it into a final, Saturday and Sunday feel like wasted days, I imagine. But, I’ll see how that goes.

So far, I’ve qualified for the Power Grid semi-final and the Stone Age semi-final. DH has qualified for the Vegas Showdown semi-final.

I miss my Pancake! I wish he could travel with me.

Speaking of travel, I found out 2 days ago that I’m going to have to go to Taiwan for work, leaving the Friday after I get back from this. I don’t mind going to Taiwan again (Din Tai Fung!!!!!), and the timing is good in that I’m not starting school yet. But, the timing sucks in that our Adorable Nephew #1 is visiting us that week. I’d been looking forward to taking him to cool things and generally spoiling him rotten. As is, I may get to see him briefly on Friday afternoon after I get back from Taiwan, but that’ll be it.

That’s all the news.

Pandora

I admit it. I’ve been living under a rock. I just today tried out Pandora, the free internet music discovery service powered by the Music Genome Project. In case any of you are also living under a rock, the way Pandora works is that you tell it a song or artist that you like, and it starts streaming songs that are similar in tonality, rhythm, genre…well, there’s a ton of qualities it considers, using the Genome data. Then, you can click if you like or dislike the songs it generates, and the radio station you’ve created will get refined based on those results. Right now, I’m playing a station inspired by Panic at the Disco. I’ve really liked the “emo rock” tracks I’ve discovered via Rock Band and Rock Band 2, so I’m using Pandora to find similar things. So far, I’ve bookmarked about six songs and artists that I’d never heard of that I want to check out when I get a chance, plus it’s played a host of other songs that I enjoy but never would have related to PatD. There’s an occasional ad, but it’s still a million times better than suffering through DJ blather on the stations I get via FM radio.

My dear husband has been using Pandora on his iPhone, and I was really pleased with the results. He plugged in his No Doubt station while we were in a hotel room a few weeks back, and it eventually started playing what I would consider to be the greatest hits of my college years. Still, it took me spotting an article in GReader to realize that I could listen to Pandora radio via Firefox, that it wasn’t just an iPhone app.

This is going to be the perfect way to fill up my Zune. Right now, I’m only using 10 of my 120 gigs. (Granted, my laptop’s hard drive is only 120gigs, so somewhere along the way, I’m going to have to do some tweaking to get it full.) I’m about to have all my CDs cataloged and ripped by a service recommended to me awhile back by a friend in part because I’m tired of wishing I had song X that I own on my Zune only to realize I haven’t ripped it yet.

Kindle 2 – Audiobook Controversy, Review

I’ve had quite a few folks ask me what I think of the Kindle 2, because I’m a huge advocate of the Kindle. Thanks to a friend, I’ve had an opportunity to use one. As a previous Kindle user…well, frankly, I don’t like it. I think the 4-way navigation is slower and more annoying than my Kindle’s scrollbar navi. The Prev/Next buttons were intentionally made harder to press because of all the whiners who kept complaining about them, and they’re so damn hard to press now that I feel like I’m going to bruise my finger to get through a book. (Amazon – You could have solved the problem just by making the buttons smaller, as you did…you didn’t need to bump up the force sensor to max, too.) They didn’t improve the software in any particularly helpful way. Yeah, text to speech is nice, but I can’t ever see myself or any common consumer using it for very long. What Kindle desperately needs is folders, and Kindle users have been screaming for them since the beta period. Kindle also desperately needs to promote its browsing capability. They need to get textbook manufacturers on their e-bandwagon. And really, they need to stop using Apple’s walled garden model. It’s particularly stupid since THEY…yes, Amazon…managed to kill Apple’s music store by offering DRM-free content. They need to innovate a way to resolve content provider’s DRM concerns but yet still allow a post-purchase marketplace for re-sale and lend/borrow. The technology is out there to bridge the gap until content providers latch onto the DRM-free bandwagon.

Then, there’s the Authors’ Guild controversy over the Text-to-Speech. The controversy is stupid, and I can’t sum up why anywhere near as well as these folks, so here’s some links:
Engadget’s Interview with Paul Aiken, Executive Director of the Author’s Guild – Paul Aiken’s circular and terrible logic really speaks for itself.
Wil Wheaton vs. Text 2 speech – I adore Wil, and stuff like this is why.
Neil Gaiman’s Excellent Summary

My Zune Card

(a smaller version can be found in its permanent home, in the sidebar at right)

I love Zune!

OMG, I should have switched to Zune years ago.

Things that are awesome that you will not find being mentioned on most reviews and blogs:

• The Zune comes with various sized earbuds. (You hear that Apple? PEOPLE DON’T ALL HAVE GIANT EARHOLES!) Yay Zune for going the good route instead of making you buy a separate set. Oh, and the earbuds have a really cool and durable cord…overall, they seem very nice for freebie, inbox earbuds.
• The Zune Originals unboxing experience was superb. Also, on the back of my Zune, in addition to the artwork I selected and the engraving I selected, it says “Hello from Seattle.” I find this awesome. Hello right back at ya, Zune!
• Zune lets you do individual settings for podcasts. This is a feature that DH and I have been *screaming* for, for forever. We are both heavy podcasters, him moreso than I. It is very annoying in iTunes that you only get a global setting for podcasts (that is, you can keep 10 episodes of everything, all episodes of everything, etc.). For political podcasts that are weekly or daily, I really only want the most recent one. For something like This American Life, I want all of the ones that I haven’t heard yet. Zune lets you set this on a per podcast basis, as well as a global default. AWESOME.
• Even better, you can tell Zune how you want to hear the podcasts. So, for example, you can tell it that when you click to play “Slate’s Political Gabfest”, it should start with the most recent instance, but when you click to play “Jay and Jack’s Lost Podcast”, it should start with the oldest instance. Brilliant.
• In the Zune marketplace, you can filter it by audio podcasts or video podcasts. Again, this is a very basic feature that iTunes has just completely blown off.

Given the above, I am *shocked* that I saw a number of reviewers saying that the Zune was not good for podcasts. The Zune software is better for podcasts than any other software I’ve seen, including Songbird and a host of other “indie” managers I’ve tried.

Additionally, there’s all the things that you will hear about on blogs and reviews: wireless syncing, XBox compatibility, overall sweet UI, etc. Those are all nifty, too, but I’m reveling in the things that I didn’t know before I bought Zune and that would have convinced me to buy it sooner if someone had just told me.

And now, I’m going to cry if they discontinue Zune as was rumored earlier this year. Please, Microsoft gods, keep Zune!