5.26.2004

ravendarke:

I have discovered an interesting temporal anomoly. Time, of course, seems to go slower or faster based on the focus of your attention, your awareness of time passing, and how much fun you're having. So, two minutes playing a fun game that requires a good deal of thought will seem to pass much more quickly than, say, two minutes of dental drilling sans Novocain.

But this morning, I discovered something unbelievable. When watching a waffle cook in the toaster, time actually slows down. I'm not joking. The 34 seconds my waffle sat cooking in the toaster, took a full 38 seconds to pass! I know that's not a substantial difference, but even so, imagine the possible applications of this new Waffle of Chronology™!

Excuse me, I must go publish my findings.

... 08:58 ... comment ... link me

5.24.2004

ravendarke:

Somehow, I suspect that Monday is going to last all day. I can't say I approve of that.

... 09:39 ... comment ... link me

5.21.2004

ravendarke: RIAA "Losses"

Somehow, I'm not shocked...

Kensei News - Nielsen Rating System At Odds With RIAA's Claim Of "Lost Sales"

... 14:40 ... comment ... link me

5.14.2004

DarkOra: When Cult Horror Classics Collide...

Bruce Campbell hints (over at the Sci Fi Wire) at the possibilty of him reprising his Ashley "Ash" J. Williams role from the Evil Dead movies to take on Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees.

I can see it now. Ash takes over as manager for a brand new S-Mart (shop smart) built over a closed-down camp on Crystal Lake. Late one night as he's closing up, Jason attacks, and Ash uses his chemistry skills to whip up some homemade sleeping gas (find all these chemicals and more in our extensive gardening section). But Jason manages to damage Ash's gas mask (20% off in the sporting goods department), and they both fall into a deep slumber (even though Jason's technically undead and wouldn't need to sleep...but logic's never stopped anything in any of these movie franchises before). That's where they meet up with Freddy who's tracked down Ash to get rid of him because he has a really bad case of glove envy.

... 14:22 ... comment ... link me

DarkOra: Now, this is a cruiser...

Well, it looks like some lucky cops will catch criminals and the ladies in their sporty, new Lamborghini police car. It sounds like a good move for the police and an even better move for the manufacturer (all that good press). Maybe their sales took a hit after people (and criminals) became enamored with the Mini Cooper from BMW after seeing it in action in the The Italian Job. So, they put one of their own vehicles in the hands of the police, "You wanna outrun us? You better have another Lamborghini...or a rocket strapped to that car of yours."

This just in...numerous incidents reported of jet-propelled Mini Coopers exploding on the Salerno-Reggio Calabria motorway. Police are baffled. ^_^

... 14:04 ... comment ... link me

5.13.2004

ravendarke:

I agree.
Washington Post Article About Gmail

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If you thought your email was private, you've got your head in a sack. Adding text ads based on the words in your mail changes nothing.

How do you think Yahoo!, or MSN, or Hotmail check for spam? By smell? Nobody seems to be worried about that, though. I guess the difference is that one removes something you don't want to see, the other adds something you may not want to see. If that's the case, this isn't a privacy issue, it's just another case of people wanting the premium service, without a way to pay for it.

Gmail is a fanastic service. The interface is unique, and pleasant to use. The ads are text only, they don't flash, blink or otherwise annoy me. And sometimes, they advertise things I actually find useful.

So there.

... 15:48 ... comment ... link me

DarkOra: Star Wars, it's a game...or two...or four...

According to the Sci Fi Wire, LucasArts made a few announcements at E3. Expect launches for the games Star Wars Battlefront, Star Wars Republic Commando, an expansion to Star Wars Galaxies called "Jump to Lightspeed," Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, and a non-Star Wars game called Mercenaries. Mercenaries looks interesting...basically, your character works for a private military company and hunts down the world's 52 most wanted targets (with hundreds of other missions generated randomly to keep things interesting). It has politics, Hummers, tanks, destructible buildings, and extra monetary rewards for those that can bring their targets in alive instead of dead.

There's much more info on all these games here (Game Daily).

... 11:49 ... comment ... link me

5.12.2004

ravendarke: King of Horror

Since I started riding the bus to work, I've had more time for reading. I'm currently about halfway through Stephen King's "The Tommyknockers". I've never been a big fan of Stephen King, despite his great imagination and character focus. In fact, his focus on the characters, rather than the events of his stories, are what keep me coming back to his sometimes troublesome work. When I finish a King novel (or short story, for that matter), I feel as if I really know the characters involved (the ones left alive, anyway). I feel a certain sadness that won't be sharing time with these people anymore.

Now, I also feel a certain sadness for the fact that I know, in my heart, that the ending didn't live up to the promise of the rest of the book.

I suspect that King gets about 700 pages in, and realizes that he has to finish the book, and just slaps something together. This isn't altogether surprising, when you think about it. In real life, people don't act as if they have to wrap things up in the next couple of days, so they can begin the next story on Thursday, and his strength is his portrayal of real people.

Now, don't get me wrong, King has put together some phenominal endings to his stories, and he has screwed up some characters. One character in particular that's been bothering me is, from "The Tommyknockers", Hilly Brown. As a baby, King describes a nervous child who craves comfort so much that he sucks both thumbs. The Hilly we see, however, is a child without fear. A natural explorer, and inadvertent daredevil. The ending of "The Stand" (when I reached it after several years of reading), was appropriate, and on par with the rest of the story. It was a natural result of the actions of the characters, in character.

But more often, the endings just fall a little flat. I'm not sure why, considering the care that is taken throughout the rest of the books.

As I said, I can't really call myself a King fan, even though I enjoy 95% of his work. The problem is that's 95% per book.

... 11:28 ... comment ... link me

5.10.2004

ravendarke:

Harvey Birdman cracks me up.

... 16:18 ... comment ... link me

5.7.2004

ravendarke:

Wow, oil prices are now higher than at any point since I first got my driver's license. I filled up my tank with some 87 octane yesterday morning, for a mere $1.81 a gallon. Deep in the heart of Texas, that's simply unbelievable.

No matter, I've started riding the bus to work.

... 15:50 ... comment ... link me