Famous Quotes
"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad."
- Salvador Dali (1904-1989)
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November 29, 2003
November 28, 2003
An 802.11b Nightmare
I've spent the last 20 hours (almost continuously) trying to get a pcmcia 802.11b adapter working under linux. It's just not working. I've gone through 3 different cards and just can't get it to pick it up. I also decided that I'd try to go from the fedora beta install that I'd been using to Fedora ver. 1 which is Redhat's official release. This caused even more problems. From a clean install my package manager of choice, YUM, would not work and was erroring out. After installing and reinstalling it about 5 times, it finally began working. I then tried to get my Instant Messaging program installed and that went as well as the wireless card. Man, I tell you what.....I'm trying to learn the ways of the Linux, but it's just not very friendly. I'd write more but my sadomasocistic behavior requires more.
November 27, 2003
My Words Of Encouragement Were Ignored
I had a long conversation tonight with a friend of mine who is probably one of the greatest friends I've ever had and the most important I will ever have. He is incredibly talented in so many areas, but at the same time is so unbelievably self critical. After a successful career (though this he denies) in technology, he had decided to give it up in pursuit of his true ideals. A major part of this pursuit is in being a professional writer. This is very fitting for him because he's exceptionally brilliant and very literate in both his writing and in his speech. The problem is he will not accept these as compliments as truths. He is in a continuous loop of self denial on most of his talents and in particular, his writing. I have tried to convey to him that his writing are incredibly insightful and that he has plenty to say. But as is his nature, he will not and cannot accept this. I tried to explain to him that the stories he's in search of writing are the stories he already owns. He's spent the last couple years in trying to better understand who he is as a person and how he as a person fits into the world which he lives. During this time of self study he has had the opportunity to do things that many of us could only dream of doing. His writings reflect this self identification and thus make up his writing style. Tonight I tried to encourage him to go with what he knows. To just get it all down on paper and to worry about it all later. That the story will come out while he is writing and to not TRY to be a writer but rather get it all out and be concerned with grammar, spelling, and plot later. That way he can construct the best idea for what he wanted to convey. I believe I had little or no success in encouraging him tonight and for that I feel bad. Not for me but for him. He has the talent and ability to write and to write well. He just got to get it out.
I decided to post this blog entry as a followup to my conversation with him. To reiterate points that I made to him and to get him to accept his talents. I apologize if you're reading this and it doesn't make very much sense. It is 3 am now, I'm a little tired, and I wrote this more for him to see my failure in encouraging him.
Good night all and happy Thanksgiving!
November 26, 2003
My Second Sorta Kinda WarDrive
So last night I decided to try it again, except I was going to take another route home to see if I could find any open networks on my secondary route. The first route I took the night before last was mostly freeway so I was surprised to even find 10. This time I took the surface streets and happened upon 26 WiFi networks. Once again there were only a few that had any encryption at all. There were actually 5 that the SSID was "default".
From the way they were spaced out along my route I could have surfed the internet the entire way home. Because I live/work in a mostly residential area, most if not all of these open networks were home based personal networks. I just can't believe how many people buy these things and don't have a clue how to set them up. Just crazy!
November 24, 2003
My First Kinda Sorta War Drive
I got to tell you, I kind of felt cool driving home from work tonight with my laptop propped up on the seat next to me and picking up Wireless Access Points on the way. About every mile or so another access point would pop up. When I drove through the parking lot of my apartments I picked up 3 there. In total I found 10 access points. Only 4 out of those 10 actually were secured. Of course I didn't go any further than identifying any open points.......as I was driving and all. hehe.
The Waco of Jaco
Michael Jackons has reportedly started his own website to defend the allegations of child molestation in which he was arrested for. The index page is a letter supposedly drafted by Michael himself (look there's his signature). If I remember correctly, there was an old Dateline broadcast about Michael which stated that he could barely read or write and that he had the education of a grade schooler. Clearly words like "predicated", "skeptical", and "no" are not in his vocabulary. The letter, which as stated before, is signed by Michael (or so we're led to believe) and describes how what's going on in the media is a fabrication and that HIS website should now be referred to for the "True Hollywood Story". I think Michaels took a little too many "Never Neverland Pills"
I don't mean to sound so skeptical myself about all of this but this dude is weird.
For Wonko and Any Other Cartoon Junkies
Blue Goo Ate My Mom has some refreshing news for all you cartoon junkies out there. Looks like Fox's Family Guy might just get the "Green Light" again.
November 23, 2003
Get Your RSS Feeds From The Web
As I've said before, I subscribe to LockerGnome a technical webzine that post some very interesting tidbits about a host of different technologies from Web Dev to Unix Administration. I was going through my mail tonight and came across a web based RSS feed reader. I've never used one but have been thinking about trying to find a reader so I can be a little more organized with my blog reading. I'm not always in front of my own computer when I want to read though, so this sounds to me like it might be the answer. I'm gonna give it a try and I'll let you guys know how it goes.
***UPDATE***
Yea, it kind of sucks. You can only manage up to 5 different feeds and I didn't find it very easy to use. Or what I'd like to say is when I found out that I was restricted to only 5 feeds I did not find it very easy to use. I think I'll pass.
Jack Didn't Have This Magic Bean
Give me a fricken break will ya? I'm up late tonight watching television in my office at home. Channel 2 on our cable system plays previews of channels that are not in the basic package. So I'm here flipping between Channel 2's Tech TV and the discovery channel. I flip to Tech TV to find one of those midnight infomercials. This one is on a natural men's supercharging supplement. That's right "Supercharging", the pill that solves the problem not only with the length of your penis but also the stamina to which it needs. The infomercial is done with a panel and an audience of people who ask "All the right questions". "How long does it take to work? Will it be ready for my date tonight?" "If it's that good, is there a version for women?" "Will it shrink when the pill wears off?"
Come on. Why do these networks put this garbage on? These commercials are parasitic. They prey on the people gullible enough to fall for this trash and unload all of their hard earned monies on GARBAGE. Pure garage with it's money back guarantees to fool those not so gullible people who they might just snare.
Hogwash I tell you, just hogwash!
The American Dream Sets Fire Flies Free
It looks like fire flies, atleast for now have a better opportunity at freedom. That is of course due to the official release of the GloFish. The New Yor Times reports that the friendly little Zebra fish has been genetically altered with a gene from sea coral which makes the fish bright red under normal light and fluorescent under ultraviolet light.
Children can now set free those fire flies they've jailed in glass jars for glass bowls of glowing fish!
(Thanks to A Million Things That Bug Me for this one)
November 22, 2003
A New Look
Hold on a second, you're here. This is still Obigabu's Blog. I just came up with a different banner. I was tired of eating the world. This change was made to go along with my new commitment to my blogging (which I've been doing not a perfect job, but a much better one).
The new image represents the road of life I walk and blog through. A road with no specific destination. The path that leads to my experiences, thoughts, dreams, failures, and successes.
And if you don't believe that then it's just a new pretty picture.
November 21, 2003
Space Sounds
Found this over at SMooSH's Place.
Raoul Duke is Back as Paul Kemp and Being Played By Johnny Depp
That's right folks, you've heard it hear 1st? 2nd? 3rd? You pick the number. Yes, Johnny Depp has signed to star in "Rum Diary", Hunter S. Thompson's first novel. The movie will be directed by Benicio Del Toro (who co-starred with Depp in "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas". Shooting begins in December. I'm sure this will be a great flick!
November 20, 2003
Worn Out: Excuse # 4351
I didn't blog last night like I usually do because I was worn the heck out. For the last couple years I have had server bouts with tiredness. I'm tired all the time and it seems that my body requires at least 12 hours of sleep. I mean last night I got home from work at 6pm, I had a granola bar, went to bed, and woke up at 6 am this morning.
Yesterday I was just feeling blah. I happened to be fixing something for somebody at work when I over heard a gal talking to someone else about how she had just gone to the doctor for what sounded like very similar symptons. When I got finished with what I was working on I asked her to give me a little more detail on what her doctor had said. She told me that she was in the pre stages of diabetes. Diebetes!!!! Not good, there's history here for me.....
***Background*** A few years ago I worked with a guy who was diabetic and one day he wanted to give dear old me the finger prick and test my blood. First off, I'm scared of nothing...nothing that is except needles...It's not as much scared as it is hate...yea I hate them...Anyhow we tested my blood sugar and mine was reasonably hight...could it have been the two 64 oz Coca Cola's I drank every day? Well, I stopped drinkig Coke and went to Diet Coke (Yea I know I know "Diet Coke is worse for you".)
It was either during this time or possibly even as much as a year before this that I had started experiencing the serious tiredness. I had in the past and continued to have my thyroid checked out because it too could have been causing the problem. The doctor's had scheduled me then for a Glucose Tollerance Test. Yea....I didn't show for it.....So I never got resolution on that.
Okay so that all being said, I have a doctors appointment on the 10 of December to have a full physical to get checked out. Then hopefully I can begin feeling better. This tiredness prevents me from doing a lot of things. With tiredness comes lack of motivation and desire. So I got to get this thing nipped in the buttox.
November 18, 2003
The Land That We Have So Unrespectively Stolen
If I've ever suggested someone read a blog I suggest you read this one. It starts out kind of weird like he's drunk and suffers from a serious case of Edipus Complex, But I assure you, it gets better. It's not so much in the single point that he makes but in the collection of everything he says. He really brings it to a level worth understanding. While he doesn't have a way to track back to the link I suggest you look for the entry called "Ancestors" written on Nov. 18th.
Another Reason Voodootime Rocks!! And I Mean, Rocks Hard!
One of the best things about reading Voodootime's blog is that he puts links in his page referencing specific things he is talking about. He just doesn't take a word like Argemone and then point it to Dictionary.com. Rather he finds some obscure reference to it and links to it. All the while the link he gives you makes it perfectly understandable to what he is describing. It's genius. I try to do it from time to time but he does it almost every time. It's part of what makes his blog so good. There are a few examples in his latest blog on nanotechnology. Check it out and tell him what you think.
My Dog Needs A Job
I'm not saying this because I can't support her, rather I'm saying this because she's got to be bored out of her mind. My wife and I are gone all day long and as soon as we get home she wants all of our attention. We give her attention and pet her and such but she still wants more. I can't blame her, I mean she's got nothing all day and she just wants to be part of something. We've had her for going on 7 years and she's been an indoor dog the entire time. Matter of fact she hated being outside so much that she actually (while staying at my mom's house one day)jumped through a closed window (she broke the sucker) just to get inside. So I don't feel bad about having her inside all day, although I just had the realization today that it must suck to be my dog. I used to think, man it would be awesome to be a dog. You could lay around relaxing all day, you don't have to work, you can pretty much do what ever you want. I won't even get into the whole cleaning yourself thing. But after today, I think I was totally wrong on this. She's got no interaction. Zip, zero, zilch, and I've got to change that. I'd like to get her another dog to play with but she'd rather play with a human and has kinda become quite snobbish to other dogs as she's gotten older. I took her to the dog park so she could play and she didn't want to have anything to do with the other dogs....She wanted to play with the owners of the dogs. She either needs to get a job or I have to find another one so I can afford to get her a babysitter.
Doh!!
I don't know what happened to yesterday's! Ah crap, yes I do. Man this new job is awesome but it sure wears me out. I came home yesterday and meant to sit down in my blogging chair but laid down in bed instead. Out I was, Until first thing this morning when here I sit in this very spot realizing that I didn't blog yesterday. I think I had something good to say too. Well, I'll have to come up with something good at work today to make up for it. Thanks all for holding me accountable on this commitment to writing. It's having you read that keeps me on track.
November 16, 2003
My Little Buddy's Making A Digital Stink
Well depending on the tempature outside, the color of your eyes, and the second on the clock you may see "My Little Buddy" the Digital Skunk as a Favicon next the my URL. If you don't I sure as heck can't figure it out. I see it on one of my machines but not on the other. I flushed my cache did a little jig and still can't get it working on one of my machines.
So if you see the little guy, just know he's looking over ya. That little stinker, I just love 'em.
I came across this link
I came across this link today while reading an amazing Tech Webzine called LockerGnome. It's a little history for your arse on the comings, goings, disappearances, acquisitions, reappearances, and longevity of different web browsers.
By the way, if you haven't check out LockerGnome I suggest you do so. There are plenty of categories to choose from. From Mac to Linux and from PDA to Gaming, they've got the happs on it.
Bizarre: My Lengthy Comment On AndrewSW
This began as a comment on AndrewSW's blog but became so lengthy that I decided to include it here as well. In his pursuit of topics for his blog paper he has come up with some very deep and insightful ideas. I suggest you follow his journey to the eventual paper that will transpire. Here is the comment I added to his post:
This is very bizarre. 2 nights ago I laid in bed trying to fall asleep and was thinking about how I had never kept a Journal or Diary before but I had kept a prayer journal. I then was thinking about how I could deploy a web prayer journal (and as a blogger therefore a prayer blog). This thought had really intrigued me. The problem I thought would be opening myself up in a way that I had never done before. I'm generally a very open person and have no problem praying aloud in front of others, although the thought of publishing my personal prayers seems to me to be so much different. These would be my prayers, which would contain my wants, my desires, my sins, and my open heart. That's when I realized what a blog was. I realized that if I made my prayer blog private it wouldn't be a blog. It would be a journal on my computer. And then what? What would be different then me writing it in my personal prayer journal. Blogging is a community act where one writes to be read and then one reads that which others have written. Aye there's the rub. The point at which my prayer blog becomes read by others, some I know and others I don't. I'm not sure that I would have any feeling of concern if people I didn't know were reading it, but for the people that know me? I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet. I'm not sure if I’ll ever be ready. As I'm writing this, a thought comes to mind about my prayers being my intimate conversation with God, something that is between me and Him alone. I feel prayer journaling is important because with it we can see exactly where and when God is in our lives. It becomes almost a tracking system of sorts. For now, I'll continue my private prayer journal......hmm...I have to think/pray more on this one.
November 15, 2003
Finally!!!
After receiving a Trackback from SMooSH, I thought it would be cool to have a list of Trackbacks on my side bar so that new ones were readily identified as being new. I hunted all over the place trying to figure out how to do it. I found something called SimpleComments but for some reason I could not get it to work. I went back to searching and came across some code that did close to what I wanted. I edited it a bit to get what I was looking for and finally whalla, it's done. If anyone wants to use the "Recent Trackbacks" like I use on my side bar, here is the code:
<div class="side">
<UL>
<MTPings ="TrackBack" lastn="5">
<LI>
<a href="<$MTPingURL$>"> <MTPingBlogName></a> on
<a href="<$MTPingURL$>"><$MTPingTitle$></a>
</MTPings>
</UL>
</div>
I hope that is helpful for anyone that is looking to add recent trackbacks to their page. I've added this because I almost missed the trackback on my site. My email notification hasn't been working properly and I have been relying heavily on my recent comments. By adding the recent trackbacks I don't have to worry about me or anyone else missing others trackbacks.
Thanks again SMooSH!
November 14, 2003
Very Little Sleep And Some Realizations
It felt really good having gone through my Blog Roll last night. I only ended up getting about 3 hours sleep but it was worth it. When I got into blogging I got into it because of the expressiveness and uniquness of other peoples blogs and the thoughts that I might be able to do the same.
For a month or so I kinda walked around stumbling for something to write about. I could come up with nothing. Not only was I not writng, I was neglecting those others who inspired me to write more. That was it, that was what I was missing. I needed to get back to the blogging world and get inspired enought to begin writing. I generally fancy myself as a more creative writer and never in my life had kept a journal or diary. Though I've been doing this for almost a year now, it's still pretty new to me. The concept of sharing my own personal thoughts and ideas in writing is still foreign. I'm a pretty extraverted person and I'm not scared of doing so (becasue I often do it freely in person), it's just writing about it is very different.
I was about to write in my blog last night and realized that I had only read 1 or 2 other blogs and that I wasn't being fair to the blogging community. I've asked the question before, "Why do people blog"? Do they do it privately for themselves? No, I don't believe that they do. I believe that people blog because they want to share their thoughts and ideas with others. If this were not true then they would not have their blogs published online. I also understood that I just couldn't believe people were just going to stumble upon my site and become regular readers. I know that in order to establish a reader base one needs to be part of the community. One needs to be participating with others that share their Ideas online. Now none of this is any great appifany, rather it's quite common sense. The interesting part is that we read others blogs not because we are selfish and want people to read ours, rather we want to share in the ideas of others and have then share in ours. This is the area I have been neglecting. I have failed to hold up my end of the bargain. Being a blogger is more than just writing. It's 50 % writing combinded with 50 % reading. That's why we do it. And that's why I only got 3 hours sleep last night. I really enjoy connecting with other's ideas and discussing them through comments. As I promised, I'm going to continue my writing and as I stated last night, I"m going to include reading as well.
I'll have to appologize if my recent blogs haven't been as fun and exciting as they used to be (or atleast as fun as "I" thought they were) but I'm on a road of rediscovery with blogging. Hang in there with me, they'll get crazy and exciting again or depressing and enlighting.
November 13, 2003
I Came, I Saw, I Read, Now I Must Go To Bed
I realized that I have been neglecting those blogs on my blog roll. Tonight I decided I had to make it a priority to read through all the recent post from those on my list. I'm sorry to all of them for not keeping read up on all of them. As part of my promise to writing once a day, I will also attempt (with fervor) to read through my blog roll. I mean why should I be telling all of you to read them if I'm not? They're all really good. Each one carries with them a great writing talent and all have an interesting perspective on what's going on in the world today. As I have before, I encourage all of you to read them as often as you can.
Take care and Good Blogging to all of you.
Uh Oh!
Wonko, we have a problem!
Wonko and I have been working on a project pertaining to blogging. While this isn't what we are looking at doing it does hit close to home. I'm glad to see that AndrewSW is getting involved and making the Blogging community look good. He's got some excellent things to say and has a very academic way of saying it.
Wonko, if we don't hurry we're gonna get beat to the moon!
A Comment To An Unsealed Room
After reading this on An Unsealed Room, I tried to add a comment but it kept crashing out. Instead of letting it go to waste I decided to post it here in hope that it would TrackBack to here site.
First off I want to thank you for having such an insightful blog. I haven't been by your site in a while, but I appreciate getting to hear from as you put it "The Middle East, motherhood, journalism and life on the cultural fault line between the U.S. and Israel". Thanks.
Anyhow, I hate hearing about these rich Americans (I being of the non-rich persuasion) traveling abroad under the guise of peace or unity. I mean what does he accomplish? What does he represent? How arrogant must one be to go to a foreign country and believe that they (a foreigner) can single handily initiate peace where there hasn't been in thousands of years. This isn't to take away from the idea that one person can make a difference. I think one person can, but I don't think that one man, a Hollywood movie star is going to win people to peace with his charming persona. It didn't work for Jane Fonda in Vietnam, it's probably not going to work for good old Arnold Schwarzenegger in California and I sure as heck don't think it's going to work for Richard Gere, who in my opinion is there for peace in his own heart. I believe his eastern religious belief has brought him there for fulfillment; For fulfillment of his own Ideals. I hate to be so brash but It's these Hollywood Heroes that help give all of us American’s a bad name. I'll accept being wrong on this but this is how I see it now. If he brought joy to peoples heart, I don't want to take that away. I just don't want it to be under the guise of peace.
Don't Know Who's IM-ing YOU?
I found this on the Tech-TV website. It's pretty funny. Basically what it is, is an Aol Instant Messanger Bot which will initiate contact with someone of your choice and keep a log of their conversation. It's hillarious. You tell it the first thing you want it to say to your friend to start the conversation and then it has a mind of it's own. Your friends talk back, and it's fricken hillarious. I always send them a copy of the file when it's done so they can get a good laugh too.
My Excuse This Time Was I Was Sick
I didn't post yesterday even 7 words as I promised. I just wasn't feeling good. I wasn't real sick, just not feeling well enough to go to bed at 5pm and sleep all the way through the night. I know I could have posted at work but having started the new job I haven't really had the chance to sit in front of the computer very much. I promise I will. This is excuse #1327.1 and 1/2.
November 11, 2003
A Few Changes
Because Wonko is such and awesome pal, he helped me to add a couple of things (he came up with) to my site. On the right you will now see links to recent comments and below that you will see a place where you can subscribe by email to receive notification on future entries. We appreciate the help here in skunkville Wonko, you're welcome any time.
November 10, 2003
An Old Employee On With A New Position
Though I hadn't mentioned it yet, I took a new position at my company. I had worked (up until today) as an Admissions Advisor at a Mechanical Trade School. My background is a combination of sales and technology and I decided as of last year to abandon the technology side because it had been so bad to me. Over the last 3 years I had been laid off 3 times from 3 different companies. I was working for a 4th company who I imagine was going to lay me off soon seeing as how when I went to cash my check the bank would not cash them due to insufficient funds. I ran as fast as I could and became an admissions advisor. I've been acting in this capacity for the last 9 months and I'm just worn out on doing sales. A position came available to run the IT Department on the campus and I decided to leap at it. I realized my love was for technology and not with the sales mentality in any way. I've struggled with this often because I'm a very extroverted person and a lot the technical work out there requires working alone with out much conversation with the customer (you're there to get work done, not to hang out). I had found a couple different positions that reached a happy medium for me but as I said before.....laid off. The IT position at my current company is a very stable position seeing as how it is support for a non technology company. It also involves working with everyone I have been working with for the 9 months. Since it's not a vendor position it's very easy to be able to socialize with the people on campus without worry of having to go to another site to complete another job. I have the ability to fulfill my passion in IT and also to work with people I enjoy.
Today, I officially stepped in to the position (though for the last week I have been working with the old IT guy) and I absolutely love it. I don't have anyone breathing over me demanding that I reach a certain number of calls, enrollments, or shows (students actually making it to school). It's a good pace and I know that it's much more suited to me. Wonko has been talking quite a bit on different entries on his blog about merging the public and private self. That is to say that moving to making the inner self and the outerself the same. This also continues to the home life / work life. Many times and in many cases people have 2 different personalities (in other cases they have many more). They act one way at work. They do this because their personal nature is different from what's required by their work nature. I was really struggling in my old position because I realized my personal nature was so far different that what my job required and more so that the work nature was really suppressing my personal nature. I knew I had to make a change. The change I made required me to take a pay cut of 4k a year. To me it's worth it. I don't want to pretend any more. I want to be me in both aspects. I think this decision for a number of reason will make that possible. I could be wrong....I mean it was only my first day....who knows......I could hate it and be complaining to you in another blog 131 days from now.....but me don't think so ***********BIG SMILE***********
November 09, 2003
"Slow Down, You Move To Fast..."
I just got in from the Simon and Garfunkel concert and keeping true to my commitment I will enter todays blog with only minutes to spare.
Well my mom happens to be a big fan of Simon and Garfunkel so I decided to take her to their reunion concert. It being there "so called" last concert together, I thought it would be a great treat. I too have always enjoyed them and wanted to get the chance to see them together. Ironically, my mom had seen them appear together in concert 20 years ago when she was 26. I say ironic, because I saw them tonight and I am 26 (oooo spooky parallel). Anyhow, while the concert was amazing, I have serious problems with the venue, America West Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. I thought we were going to have pretty decent seats at 85.00 a ticket. When I purchased them I looked at the seating chart and saw that while it was quite a bit away from the stage, it seemed to be a tolerable location. When we arrived we discovered this was not so. We climb the million stairs to reach our seats in the nose bled section of the arena. From where we were sitting we could only see the tops of the artist heads and were so crammed in because the seats were so close together we could hardly breathe. This is what really made me angry. The seats were unbelievably horrid. There is no reason why they should even considered seating anybody there in the first place. The seats were so close together that I was nearly sitting on the guys lap next to me. Now I'm not normally one to complain but this really ticked me off. It was quite clear that America West cares nothing about the people seeing the show. Rather, they only care about how much money they can bring in. It makes my blood boil to think that they are so greedy that they would even conceive of charging 85.00 for seats that small and so far away. I really learned my lesson here. I refuse to return to support them or anyone who plays there. This is the second thing I've seen from them that has just pissed me off. The first was when I attended a Phoenix Sun's Basketball game. I didn't have anyone sitting next to me so I didn't realize the size of the seats at this particular time. What got me was at half time they called down to the floor all children ages 6-10 to attempt a free throw shot. Who ever made the shot would receive a coupon for a free .99 fountain drink from Circle K (a chain convenient store). WHAT! they make all that money and they're going to give a child a soda if they make a shot? only about 7 out of the 20 or 30 kids that went down to the floor actually made it. How cheap are they? They couldn't give them an autographed basketball or shirt or something? A soda? What kind of cheap trash is that? They're only in it for themselves. That's what the worlds going to...Hell in a hand basket...and I'm not going with them...and I'm sure as heck not going to attend any event at America West Arena.
My Army's Ameria's Army
America's Army 2.0 was released this week and that makes me one happy soldier. There's just no excuse as to why you haven't tried it. It's free to download and free to play. It's playable on Windows, OS X, and Linux. If you're still reading, YOU'RE WRONG! Go Download it!
Bascially what the U.S. Army has done is develop an online massive multiplayer game in an attempt to recruit new recruits. The systems requirements are pretty high, so if you got the hardware this baby is the game you want to try.
I spent 3 years in the Army and get quite a lot of enjoyment out of playing because the scenarios and training are exactly those I trained in. Kinda makes me wonder why they would release their training secrets......hmmm....Well I got to run, I got to woop some arse. See ya in the game.
November 08, 2003
Let's Pass It Around
It's that cool. Wonko reported on this and it's pretty cool. Check it out: The Meatrix.
November 07, 2003
The Matrix: Revolutions Revisited
After discussing the 3rd film in greater detail with friends (that have already seen the movie) I realized something very important. What I realized is that the 3rd film wasn't really that good. Don't get me wrong it was okay, I just realized that my appreciation for the 3rd movie was based on my complete disgust for the 2nd. There are quite a few things in the 3rd movie that were just off the mark. Neo in the 2nd and 3rd movie is not even close to being the same character he was in the first movie. This has nothing to do with him discovering that he was the "One". Of course his character is going to change in that he now has the responsible for saving the world. What I'm talking about is that when the first movie starts we see that Neo is an elite hacker and he is fighting the "system" with the computer system. They define his character clearly in the first film as a computer hacker who throughout the rest of the series never touches a computer again.
There was a lot of things in 3 that didn't need to be in the film. I can't go into much of it because again, I don't want to ruin the movie for anyone. What I can say is it seemed that the specific long drawn out scenes were there only to merge and carry some consistency from the 2nd.
My over all opinion of the film is 3 fold. That is to say that the movie was okay, It was way better than the 2nd film, and that neither the 2nd or 3rd film came close to the first. Well that's my bit.
It's a Mistake
I told you I was going to blog everyday. I am, I am, I am, well I sort of am. I have been adding them but I have been having troubles with them posting correctly. I'm on the job, and I'm getting it fixed. More to come.
November 05, 2003
What Dreams May Come
No not THAT movie, I just liked the title. After watching "Waking Life" I really got to thinking a little bit more about dreaming. I've always been real interested in dreaming. Not so much of dream interpretation but rather dream manipulation and the ability to be able to control your dreams. Have you ever gone to bed and tried to dream about a specific thing? Has it worked? I try it all the time and have little success. My mind chooses to dream about those things it wants to rather than those I try to. Or maybe I do dream what I want, but forget those dreams and awake only remembering the ones my brain has picked for me. This is the area I'd like to explore in more detail. I'd like to find out if there is a way to consistently induce specific dream situations.
A couple days after watching Waking Life I had a dream that was similar to a situation in the movie. The movie described that if you determined while you were dreaming that you were actually dreaming then you could in turn control your dream. In effect you could do what ever you wanted to do. The problem is determining that you're actually dreaming. One of the suggestion in the movie for determining this was to try turning a light switch on and off. If the light in the room didn't go on and off then you'd know you were dreaming. I was able to put this to use, or at least I thought I had. Here's how it went: I had dreamed that I had cheated on my wife and afterwards was filled with uncontrollable guilt. I remember just sitting there and trying to convince myself that I didn't do it. Then I thought that if I believed it didn't happen I could go on as if it didn't. I really beat myself up over it for what seemed quite a long time. Suddenly I realized that it was only a dream. I wasn't completely convinced it was a dream but I was pretty sure. So at this point I think I thought I was already awake. The next thing I can remember is being a room with a bunch of people. My mom was there and she was talking to me. I looked over on the wall and saw a light switch and immediately remembered what I had seen in the movie. I began flicking the light switch on and off all the while my mom is still talking to me. Although as I was flicking the switch nothing was happening. The light remained on. I remember my mom was asking what I was doing. At this point I felt completely relieved to know I was dreaming and had in fact not cheated on my wife. I then turned to my mom and asked her "So what is it like being a character in my dream"? After the words left my mouth the lights turned on and off. Apparently the light switch trick isn't really true. I woke up shortly after this happened.
What was so interesting about this experiment is that I was able to control a certain amount of the dream. I want to learn more about how to do this. If anyone reading this has any suggestions to point me in the right direction, I would be very grateful. What really fascinates me is the idea of actually talking to people in my dreams about their specific role in my dream. It seems to me that this would be like one part of the brain actually having a conversation with the other. This may not be anywhere close to truth but it fascinates me just the same.
The ability to induce specific situations in a dream is a priority as well. To me dreaming may be the closest we get to time or inner planetary travel. I mean if we can choose to dream about anything we want, we can create it and go there.
A funny side note which annoys the heck out of my wife is that I for the last 5 or so years set the alarm for at least 2 hours before the time that I get up. Basically the alarm goes off and I proceed to hit the snooze button every 9 minutes for the next 2 hours. I began doing this because I started feeling more rested after waking and falling back to sleep over a short amount of time. I felt I got more "Needed Sleep" in those 2 hours than I had for the entire night. Another side benefit from this was the number of dreams and vividness of them after I woke up completely. After watching something on the Discovery Channel on sleep disorders, I realized that I was probably entering REM about that the time the alarm initially went off. I don't have any scientific evidence to support this but the rest I get in those 2 hours is the most refreshing. The dreams during that time are amazing and vivid and after the alarm goes off and I fall back to sleep I can usually get back where I left off with the last dream. This sometimes can keep me in bed longer than I intended because I want to see the entire dream through.
I know this is may all sound like gibberish, but I just wanted to spill it all out (even if it's senseless) to see if anyone has any similar ideas or experiences. Thanks for listening, and I'll update this as I have new things to share. If you're interested on this specific topic, please share with your friends and encourage them to share as well. As always, thanks ladies and gents. Good night and happy dreaming!
Matrix: Revolutions
Opening night again! So I went and saw the 3rd installment of the Matrix. I was a little weary about seeing it because I felt they had destroyed it in the 2nd film. (You can see how I felt about the proverbial IT I speak about by doing a search for MATRIX in the search bar over there on the right.)
I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I can't go into much detail now because a lot of you haven't had a chance yet to see the film. I'll wait a week or so and give my opinion on the film to give you guys enough time to see it for yourself. Who knows, I might go see it again.
So for now, check out how I felt about the 2nd film, and I'll get back to you next week.
(As I write all of this I can't help but thinking, "How conceited can this guy be? I mean who the heck cares what this guy thinks about anything?". I answer with, "Isn't that what blogging is about?" A question answered with a question, how yoda like!)
**UPDATE**
After being called lazy and being made to feel like I didn't know what I was doing I decided to add a link to my first Matrix entry. **CLICK HERE**
November 03, 2003
The Most Insane and Incredible Movie
I just got finished watching The Most Insane and Incredible Movie. It's called "Waking Life", and it was awesome. It's so incredible because of the way it was made. Apparently they captured it with on film and then drew each slide by hand until they had an entire movie that was very Van Gogh'ish. The story was very insightful. Basically it was of a young man dreaming and discovering different things about himself and his Ideals. He goes on an unwanted journey through his own mind in discovery of himself. The films premise is very intellectual and to many would appear pointless. To me it's an awesome film and can best be described as, where "Groundhog's Day" meets Starry Night.
November 02, 2003
Just a Test
One of the things that's kept me busy is moving to a new server. The last post I made didn't post. Will this one?
And So It Begins
Okay, well I missed my entry yesterday which was supposed to restart the beginning of my blogging. I missed it because I was really busy, I swear. I am going to make it a priority now to blog everyday. The requirement for me that it has to be at least 7 words. There are going to be some days that I just don't have it in me to get out a blog. So for those days I have the "7 Word Easy Out". I'll try to use this as little as possible and if it is necessary to use them I will try to make them as creative as possible. That way you'll want to come back the next day for a quick and entertaining read. See I think I came up with that more for the reader than myself. See, I really care about the reader, I don't want to take their entire day away from them. They don't need to read War and Peace here. They'll get 7 words, because I care about them. See, this blog is a blog for the people, by the people. That's what I'm here to do. and with that said, I'll wrap up todays blog. Goodnight :-)