It appears that the newest installments of the infamous board game, Monopoly, will forgoe the classic paper money approach to managing your funds. Rather than passing around those historic slips of paper representing your domination over the board games, property market, you will now get to SWIPE away!
Archive for July, 2006
Hasbro is all about the Plastique
Tuesday, July 25th, 2006Heatwave
Sunday, July 23rd, 2006Well today it officially hit 105 degrees here. So hot. The worst part is that I don’t have air conditioning in my apartment. For whatever reason it seems that most of the apartments here in Eugene don’t come standard with A/C. This is really weird cause where I come from they all have it in one form or another… My fan really isn’t doing the trick either because, while yes it moves air, the air it’s moving is 100+ degrees so it’s basically like trying to cool off with a hair dryer.
I’m not one to complain about it being too hot– but this is so much more extreme than I’ve experienced in the past. Michigan definitely does not get this hot.
Anyways, now to attempt to sleep in this heat…
Adventures in DD-WRT Routing Firmware
Sunday, July 23rd, 2006Has been a very productive morning already. Got linux running on my Linksys WRT54GS router (which previously had some horrible excuse for a firmware running on it). Everything seems to be a lot zippier now and the GUI system for admin is much nicer and expansive.
Read about DD-WRT here
I was having problems with my connection randomly dying a couple times a day, forcing me to power cycle my cable mode / router. So this was something that had to be done. If you have one of these routers (they are indeed quite popular), I would recommend undergoing this process as it seems you can get a lot more for your money in this device.
The router also has this problem with P2P apps or any software that generates a lot of connections.. any way here are some commands to execute in Telnet to fix this kind of problem:
The following instructions are for DD-WRT only
- Do not use the web interface method as it cuts off part of the commands.
- Enable SSH (Admin, Services) as we are going to use the NVRAM method @ http://wrt-wiki.bsr-clan.de/index.php?title=Startup_Scripts#NVRAM_Method
- Login to the router with an SSH client (root/your password).
- Put the following commands into the SSH client.
~ # nvram set rc_startup=”
> echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts
> echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/icmp_ignore_bogus_error_responses
> echo ‘600 1800 120 60 120 120 10 60 30 120′ > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_conntrack_tcp_timeouts
> “
~ # nvram commit
~ # reboot
Make sure your “Maximum Ports” is set to 4096 on the Management page of your Admin GUI
Footnote: rockin’ out to Alabama 3 this morning per Dan’s recommendation. Pretty rockin tunes!
Net Neutrality and Internet Gambling
Tuesday, July 18th, 2006A couple entries ago I wrote about the Internet gambling bill making it’s way through Congress. Well I’m sure many of you also know about the Net Neutrality bill, which serves to bring priority on the net to that content which is considered on a “different tier”. Well anyways, the bill is apparently being served up by Ted Stevens and The Daily Show decided to attack the issue. Hilarity ensues after the jump.
Lamp Shopping
Saturday, July 15th, 2006Went to the store today and found myself in the aisle looking at lamps because I’ve been in desperate need of getting some lighting for my apartment. Turns out they had some really good deals going and I managed to find a nice floor lamp for $5. Yeah that’s right, no typo. Of course, like anything else you buy in this world, it didn’t come with the necessary includes to actually use it– like say a light bulb. Turns out the cost of me adding light to my living space doubled up when I found out that I needed to buy a special $5 3-way light bulb to use it.
Light bulbs are a lot more expensive than I remember them being.
Street Fighter Diago
Saturday, July 15th, 2006After the jump is a great video of a guy who looks be down in out in a hot Street Fighter match but…. well you have to watch the video to find out. (more…)
Congress and Poker
Thursday, July 13th, 2006Having a little trouble sleeping tonight. Probably can be attributed to too much caffeine in the late hours. Since I’m not catching any z’s right now I figured I’d jump on here and write a quick little blurb about something in the news that is kinda irritating.
Now I’m not one to really pay too much attention to politics. I used to be very interested in the topic, but lately I’ve just become apathetic. However, yesterday I receved an email through the Poker Player’s Alliance about this bill that Congress is looking to put through. Essentially the intention of the bill is to create a law prohibiting all U.S. financial institutions from transferring funds to online gambling sites and to put pressure on Internet service providers to block the sites and applications individuals use to play online poker.
It’s being reported that this is part of an “American Values Agenda” that is being prioritized in Congress. However if people playing in poker tournaments online is a big moral dilemma, why does this same bill leave the barn door wide open for legal horse racing and Internet lotteries?
It seems to me that if, like other evolutions in the technology world, governing bodies would choose to embrace those evolutions rather than fighting them, the end results would prove to be more beneficial for all involved. As far as I’m concerned it’s similar to the same idea as the RIAA or MPAA’s learning to provide their product through new channels rather than prohibiting those innovations threatening their market share.
This quote from the Poker Players Alliance illustrates this thought process:
“The United States should follow the lead of the United Kingdom by regulating and taxing online poker, not banning it. An economic analysis just released by our organization shows that U.S. regulation of online poker has the potential to raise more than $3.3 billion in annual revenue for the federal government, in addition to another $1 billion for state coffers. We hope that this analysis will give a fresh perspective for U.S. Senators about the benefits of regulation.”
Now I’m not a high stakes gambler or anything, but I will say that I enjoy the ability I have to hop on an online poker room, when I feel the urge, and splash around a few chips. I enjoy the game of poker because it is a game that while yes, it has an element of luck involved, it also requires a thought process and analytical approach that I find to be relaxing and a nice break from my work. Besides, I will never balk at the opportunity to make a few extra bucks every now and then. It’s too bad that the government feels that they need to get involved with this.
If you’re interested in reading more, I recommend this article from CardPlayer.com
Google Opening up shop in Michigan
Tuesday, July 11th, 2006Well I was pleased to hear the headline when I was doing a little morning news briefing today. Google is going to open a Research Center in Ann Arbor, which is where University of Michigan (Larry Page’s alma mater) is located. Michigan is really in need of a boost in the tech industry and I couldn’t think of a company better than Google to lead the way.
Hopefully, what you will see, is the foundation for an amazing infrastructure, one which will prove to be beneficial for other leading edge technology companies to join the Michigan market.
This quote from the article in the Detroit Free Press sums up why this is so exciting:
If Michigan is to shed its Rust Belt image and avoid becoming an industrial backwater in the new global economy, it’s clear that the state must diversify and emphasize the strength of its research universities in producing scientists and engineers.
Oh and as a footnote, everybody says the founders of Google are from Stanford, which is true because they both received their Masters degrees there. But do not forget that one of the founders graduated from East Lansing (Michigan) High School and both of his parents are professors at Michigan State University (my alma mater) =)
Grillz
Tuesday, July 11th, 2006Have you heard this single from Nelly entitled Grillz? Being pretty out of touch with a lot of music on mainstream radio / MTV, I had a chance to hear this tune for the first time today. Maaaan, this song just jumps off the deep end. It’s all about sporting some serious bling (i’ve used that word two .blog posts in a row now) in your mouth. That’s right, knock out those teeth and sport some ice instead…
“Call me George Foreman cuz I’m sellin everybody grillz”
Yeah, that’s a line straight from the song!
Check out the Wikipedia entry on the song…
The music video is after the jump! (more…)
Revival
Monday, July 10th, 2006Well, two posts ago I focused on the word ressurection, which is a good word. But now we are going for a revival, Billy Graham style. In the past, this .blog has focused on topics relating to the the web design, Internet marketing, and other technology related topics. While those topics will still make an appearance here and there I am going to be taking a more personal approach from here on out.
Now for a summary of what has happened in my life since my last post…
Oregon. Yes that’s right, the beautiful state of Oregon is now the place I call home. I moved out here in the middle of May to pursue an amazing opportunity, joining the web development team at GarageGames. For those of you who are unfamiliar with GarageGames, it is a company here in Eugene, Oregon founded to tear down those insane barriers to entry that most independent game developers face in entering the video game development industry. Along with producing amazing game development tools, GarageGames also has used those tools to make some really great games–the most popular of which being Marble Blast Ultra for the Xbox360 Live Arcade (if you have a 360, make sure you pick this up– best $10 you will ever spend).
Anyways, I have a lot of great plans in store for this site, as I am everyday expanding my arsenal of web-based languages and techniques I’m using in projects. My plan is to, as Rick puts it, “bling out” this site with some really cool interactivity and multimedia things to show off my skills =)
If you want to stick around and learn a little more about me and the West Coast, party on after the jump… (more…)