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The Magpie Developer
Jeff Atwood is one of the best programmer/writers around. I love reading his stuff, some I agree wholeheartedly with, other stuff we disagree, but this post is about a dead-on as they come. This idea has been floating in my head for a long time, but it is hard for me to conceptualize it in words, Atwood does a brilliant job at it. Must read for any developer. |
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Andy Olmsted's Last Blog Entry.
(Warning: Pretty rough) No matter how you feel politically about the war, this reminds you that each number people throw around as statistics is a human life. This is extremely well written, and pretty rough on your soul towards the end, but something everyone should read. Its a shitty situation all around, but there is always a human face behind the statistics and I want to make sure I never forget that. |
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Drinking stories that put yours to shame
Via Keith
To preserve his body during the voyage home, the second-in-command stored Nelson's body in the ship's vat of rum and halted all liquor rations to the crew. Not a bad idea, but when the ship reached port, officials went to retrieve Nelson's body and found the vat dry.
Disregarding good taste (in every sense), the crew had been secretly drinking from it the entire way home. After that, naval rum was referred to as Nelson's Blood. |
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making vodka pills in 24 hours
Recently, Chef Fabian was experimenting further with the Adria/Torreblanca technique of making 'vodka pills.' I use this word to describe the process of making liquid-filled candies by pouring flavored alcohol syrups into cornstarch and letting it set until a hard outer shell forms. |
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Strategy Letter VI - joelonsoftware.com
As a programmer, thanks to plummeting memory prices, and CPU speeds doubling every year, you had a choice. You could spend six months rewriting your inner loops in Assembler, or take six months off to play drums in a rock and roll band, and in either case, your program would run faster. Assembler programmers don’t have groupies.
Entire Article is Dead On. A must read for anyone in the software biz. |
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Brazil with Frys... Supersized
Two thing of great note happened to me over the weekend:
I visited Mecca (twice mind you)
I watched one of the greatest movies I have seen in years
First, Mecca.
Richrard called me around 2 oclock on Friday and said these words (which are forever etched in my mind)
"Eric, I am in the coolest store ever built"
I had figured he had happened upon some new Best Buy Lookalike and was going to tell me how cool the computer game section was and that they carried indie CDs and good choices of Anime. Little did I know that Richard was about to tell me about Mecca. (aka Fry's Electronics). Let me tell you that I was a little hesitant about the words richard was spilling before me in between his drool as he walked around the store. Basically I got this out of him "Big As... City... Anything geek could....want...walls of motherboards.... rows of cases....water coooling.... $65 120 gig harddrive.... games...book..." and then I think Richard passed out. I ended up going and meeting richard at this electronics store with its own zipcode at about 7:30. It was everything I had envisioned and more. This place is a combination of a Best Buy, Circut City, Barnes & Noble, Game Stop, Radioshack, 5 delis, 4 burros, 3 ghettos, and an anime store in a pear tree. Undeniably the coolest store in Atlanta. I ended up going back on Sunday with Lindz and she was pretty enthrawled by the place, although I am sure she saw many wachovia.com entries with the word Fry's emblazzed on them in her future. All Hail Fry's. I have already bought a little rug (ok old converted star wars bed sheets) to lay down at work in Fry's direction for my 5 prayers daily.
The second event of my weekend that was amazing was watching Brazil. What an amazing movie. It is amazing to me to be able to watch a movie that was made when I was 6 (20 years - 1/5th of a century ago) that is MORE relevant today than it was back then. Basically the jest of the film is a Monty Python's 1984. The story takes tons of Orwellean facits and throws them at you with the visual entensity of Floyd's The Wall Its that late 70s early 80s technicolor that is PERFECT for films like The Wall or Clockwork Orange or the 'Long Horn Steak House Baby Weird Hairdo Lady Commercials' (No shit, shes a pshcyotriptic witch I have dreamed about that rides a Flaming Pie). The film is just an amazing take on 'The System' and Orwellean Governmental Control and the lone crusader that tries to stop it with a Kubrick twist. MARK MY WORDS: Robert Dinero's HVAC Mercenary is the most funniest character that has ever existed in any movie. Tuttle/er Buttle is the coolest cunning contractor that has ever existed.
Please Rent It.
-E
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(Monday, August 30)
Carr's New blog is officially rated "Kick Ass"
View it here
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(Saturday, August 28)
Tampa Bay's 10 - 10 News WTSP
Man you just don't say stuff like that. The ironic thing is there are a alot of people who feel that way in Iraq (and speak about it plainly) the country we "liberated", but The US citizen that says it is the one who may be put in jail. Don't get me wrong the guy shoudl never have said that but I think the context of the conversation should play a part in it. If he was saying it thinking it would better his standing with the foieghn dry cleaner that is one thing. If the dude has a bunch of pictures of GW with targets on them while he looks at his GW photoalbum in lipstick, then it might be a different story. I hope the guy doesnt get 5 years for it though. He is entitled to an opinion. To me this is kinda like flag burning issue. It is stupid and very disrepectful, but I am not sure if the Bill or Rights deems it illegal.
Tampa Bay's 10 - 10 News WTSP
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Gandalf
If anyone can fix that situation it would be Gandalf.
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Joint Op Update
For Jop's Out There. And All My Force-7.
Record Breaking Online Game to release additional content this week
By Christiaan Allebest
August 24, 2004 - 19:11 EST
Calabasas, CA - Novalogic, a well-known creator of military-themed computer games, announced today that additional content will be available this week to all gamers who purchased their recent First-Person Shooter, Joint Ops: Typhoon Rising.
Built upon the Black Hawk engine, Joint Operations takes place in the near-future around the jungles of Indonesia and recently made headlines when it broke the world's record for the most players on a single server. Typhoon Rising has the capability to run servers and maps that have 150 players online simultaneously.
The downloads available this week for the title include a patch, a mission editor, and a new map. The patch will fix some known issues that have arisen during the course of the game and is intended to increase it's performance on older systems.
The mission editor, which will be called N.I.L.E. (Novalogic Internal Level Editor) will allow players to create new missions and maps using the games' existing assets. Initially released as a beta, the editor will be used to gain feedback for eventual updates and improvements.
In addition to the mission editor and the patch, Joint Ops will be enhanced by a new map for its multiplayer only online matches. It will be for use in the gametype "Advance & Secure" and is expected to also be set in the Indonesian jungle.
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UPDATE: Finally downloaded the Vid of the kids playing Doom3:
Scarrrry Game
Watch Here
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The Face of Gaming (via 1982)
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Told you this thing was scary.
Link
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My New Handle Pic
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I Love Bees
The http://www.ilovebees.com / Halo 2 thing is getting outof hand. Now they have GPS coordinates. Someone has come up with a brilliant marketing concept on this one. Totally awsome. I wonder what people will find.
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Everquest 2 Warcry
"On another thread Moorgard talks about Collision confirming that there WILL be collision with PC's and NPC's.
There is collision. When PCs or NPCs walk toward each other and reach a point where they would collide, one gets bumped out of the way. They don't simply pass through each other as if they were ghosts.
However, collision isn't an absolute. Models have collisions spheres around them that define at what point they get moved out of the way of something else. You obviously don't want a badger to have the same collision sphere as a dragon. Additionally, there are limitations in place so that griefing and exploiting are avoided as much as possible.
What we don't use is every-point-on-your-body collision. Is it technically possibe? Sure. But that would put an immense load on the server, because it would have to be calculating that on thousands of entities all at once. The performance hit would be incredible.
As I've said before, there are weapon collisions that take place as part of the battle animations. That is, two people fighting with a sword will have clashes, parries, hits, etc. But we're not calculating every point on the sword to see if it collides with any other surface in the game world every single moment.
So if you take frames out of a combat sequence, for example, you're going to see imperfections. Body parts will seem to pass through other body parts on occasion, especially when opponents are right next to each other. When you're actually playing, you don't see those individual frames but instead see combat as a whole, which I personally think looks amazing.
"
It is truely a beautiful thing when people are whining about collision levels on weapons against random objects within the space and plane of a game. It means that people expect games to have such real life characteristics and computers to be so powerful that they can decide such things. It great that people would actually look at a game in such stunning detail and say man "when I rip a fart, I should see the spray from my character's ass rebound off whatever object I am standing near."
Man is EQ2 gonna kick ass or what?
Everquest 2 Warcry:
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(Saturday, August 21)
US News Article %7C Reuters.com
Oh those 'Swift Boat Veterans for *Truth*'
"Col. Cordier did not inform the campaign of his involvement in the advertisement being run by (Swift Boat Veterans for Truth)," Schmidt said. "Because of his involvement with this 527 (group), Col. Cordier will no longer participate" in the steering committee.
The disclosure of Cordier's involvement came one day after White House spokesman Scott McClellan and Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot denied the campaign coordinated with the group on the ads, which claim that Kerry lied about his Vietnam War service. "
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=6036302
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Electorial Vote Counts
I've gotten a few emails about the Electorial Prediction site I posted last week and have a link to at the bottom of my site being amazingly Pro-Kerry (which is* true if you delve deeper into the site). So I browsed a couple of boards and tried to find a hard line Republican Electoral Vote Predictor and to my astonishment they had Kerry Predicted further. Feel free to do your own investigating.
Democratic-Biased Electoral Vote Counter:
http://www.electoral-vote.com/
Republican-Biased Electoral Vote Counter:
http://www.electionprojection.com/
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MSNBC - Iraqi athletes object to Bush campaign ad
Another Iraqi player asked: �How will (Bush) meet his God having slaughtered so many men and women? He has committed so many crimes.�
But Clark insisted journalists were wrong to take advantage of the athletes.
�It is a little naughty,� he said. �The players are not very sophisticated politically; they are a little naive. Whoever posed these questions knew that the reaction would be negative.
MSNBC - Iraqi athletes object to Bush campaign ad
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AllTheHitsQ100.com%20--%20The%20Bert%20Show%2C%205%3A30am%20-%2010am%20Monday%20-%20Friday
Cool link my wife found that shows all the Georgia Residents in Olympic events.
Maj. Michael E. Anti Shooting Lives Fort Benning 50m Rifle Prone 20-Aug 2:30p
Oscar Chaplin III Weightlifting From Savannah 85kg 21-Aug 8p
Maritza Correia Swimming University of Georgia Silver 4x100 Freestyle
Gail Devers Track and field Lives in Duluth 100m 20-Aug 10:50a
Sgt. 1st Cl. Shawn C. Dulohery Shooting Lives in Midland, trains Ft. Benning Skeet 22-Aug 11a
Sgt. 1st Cl. Bret E. Erickson Shooting Lives in Buena Vista, trains at Fort Benning 13th Place Trap
Chris Ennis Canoe/Kayak-Slalom Emory University 4th Pl-2nd Run Whitewater C-1
Sgt. 1st Cl. James "Todd" Graves Shooting Lives in Cusseta, trains at Fort Benning Skeet 22-Aug 11a
Breaux Greer Track and field Lives in Athens Javelin 26-Aug 8:25p
Tora Harris Track and field From College Park, South Atlanta High School High Jump 26-Aug 8p
Monique Hennagan Track and field Trains in Decatur, lives in Stockbridge 400m 21-Aug 9:45a
Cheryl Haworth Weightlifting Lives in Savannah plus 75kg 21-Aug 4:30p
Reese Hoffa Track and field University of Georgia, lives in Athens 22nd in Qualifier Shot Put
Chaunte Howard Track and field Junior at Georgia Tech High Jump 26-Aug 8p
Emily Jacobson Fencing Lives in Dunwoody Quarterfinalist Indiv. Sabre
Sada Jacobson Fencing Lives in Dunwoody Bronze Indiv. Sabre
Spc. Hattie J. Johnson Shooting Lives in Columbus, trains at Fort Benning Tied for 14th Air Rifle
Kara Lynn Joyce Swimming Sophomore at University of Georgia 2nd in Heat 100m Freestyle
Stephon Marbury Basketball Played at Georgia Tech 89-79 Win vs. Australia
Adam Nelson Track and field Lives in Athens Silver Shot Put
Sgt. 1st Cl. Jason A. Parker Shooting Lives in Fortson, trains at Fort Benning 8th Place Air Rifle
Cindy Parlow Soccer Former Atlanta Beat player 1-1 Tie Against Australia 20-Aug 6p
Derrick Peterson Track and field From Lovejoy, Lovejoy High School 800m 25-Aug 9p
Dwight Phillips Track and field From Decatur, Tucker High School Long Jump 24-Aug 7:45p
Julie Richards Equestrian Lives in Newnan 51st Place Team Eventing
Briana Scurry Soccer Former Atlanta Beat Goalkeeper 1-1 Tie Against Australia 20-Aug 6p
Sgt. 1st Cl. Daryl L. Szarenski Shooting Trains at Fort Benning 13th Place - tie Air Pistol
15th Place - tie Free Pistol
Sheila Taormina Triathlon University of Georgia Triathlon 25-Aug 10a
Angelo Taylor Track and field DeKalb High School, lives in Decatur 400m Hurdles 23-Aug 7:30p
Matt Taylor Canoe/Kayak-Slalom Lives in Atlanta, teaches at Galloway School 6th Pl.-2nd Run Whitewater C-2
Terrence Trammell Track and field Southwest DeKalb High School, lives in Decatur 110m Hurdles 24-Aug 10:03a
Dee Dee Trotter Track and field From Decatur, Cedar Grove High School 400m 21-Aug 10:03a
Tisha Waller Track and field Lives in Atlanta, teaches at Ashford Park High Jump 26-Aug 8p
Amanda Weir Swimming Lives in Lawrenceville, Brookwood HS, will attend University of Georgia Silver 4x 100m Freestyle
AllTheHitsQ100.com%20--%20The%20Bert%20Show%2C%205%3A30am%20-%2010am%20Monday%20-%20Friday
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Goog
Finally someone is seeing the light....
CnnFn
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Sounds Familiar
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(Tuesday, August 17)
Crack Dog Come Down.
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(Monday, August 16)
Gilmore Vs Ashcroft - District 9
I think it should be a law that you have to show ID before you board a plane, but this guy is correct. Why the secrecy and why should the laws constituting it not be in writing?
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America Number 1
The gold-or-bust US of A, that's us.
This article pisses me off, but makes me proud. When the hell have we ever wanted number 2? I don't remember wanting number 2 in Normandy, nor the isles of Japan. I don't look for a line at the grocery store with 1 person already in it. Great article about American thoughts. (Not what the writer was trying to say, but thats what comes across) They are what make us American and make us a great country. We are arrogant, cocky, and complete assholes, but you know what thats why we have 2k medals.
Damn Strait.
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I am not entirely sure I understand how this works, but it is kinda neat. The foundation that they predict the votes on sounds kinda fishy. Neat Idea though. For any of those that want an RSS feed about the predicted number of electorial votes in this years election.
Electorial Vote Predictor RSS
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Dirty.
Kudos to Keith for finding this.