The final outcome of Fortress America

This guy says that the US will collapse in 2010. and end up looking like this...



Wow...2 years...didn't see that coming.

Christmas is here!

My Christmas has come! Yeah, Christmas in RI netted me the Wii Fit and Boomblox for the Wii. I also nabbed Deadspace for the PC.

Woohoo!

On to PA to complete the orgy of giving!

Only a Chemist or Physicist Could Say This

James Bryant Conant

"The only way I can know if my thoughts have some weight behind them is the sense of terror I have when I think of something new."


Keep in mind that Oppenheimer was a very close friend and both worked on military projects.

That quote has got to go down as the scariest thing a smart guy could ever say. wow.

Birchy are you ready?

Boy oh boy I can't wait.

I might want to rethink that purchase

With Seven of Four around and Wolverine new on the scene I might need to rethink buying a LCD.

The Source of so many cancers?

A new discovery found that lightning storms release a blast of gamma radiation.

Gamma rays are highly energized forms of electromagnetic radiation capable of piercing through 2 feet of concrete. These are the most deadly in the EM spectrum. And they might be blasting through you and your Canada Dry at 30,000 feet. Whole Crap.

Could this be the missing element that seems to be increasing cancer rates? I mean so many people seem to be contracting (or I suppose developing is the better term) cancer that a source like heterocyclic amines or aluminium foil needs to be the culprit. But gamma radiation is way more high energy physics.

The future is here! Next femtoweapons!

How cool is that. If only they were a reality. Okay Dredben what do you got on this?

Global Warming...Hah!

Best line ever....

“The models and forecasts of the UN IPCC "are incorrect because they only are based on mathematical models and presented results at scenarios that do not include, for example, solar activity.”

- Victor Manuel Velasco Herrera, a researcher at the Institute of Geophysics of the National Autonomous University of Mexico

You can read this and more on the U.S. Senate Minority Report

The Developer of Doom

Here's a great interview with a developer a few of you might know and the rest of you better discover.

Classical guitar Super Mario 2

My favorite Mario game.

When You Need to Know Who the Daddy is

I actually miss working with plasmids.

Woohoo!

Just switched to Fios and the installation team will be here on the 19th!

Didn't increase my monthly payment a bit! And it boosted my bitrate by about 200%!!

How Kimmy gets into work

Man, I should have written him in!

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

If only I was in college

The documentary is really long, about the 4th HvZ game at Goucher College. Check out 16:30 to 18:30, insane attack of zombies against a ragtag band of humans.


Humans vs. Zombies from HvZ Source on Vimeo.

In realizing the previous post's esoteric nature here is the subject

Free Flash Games

Absolutely insane

Prince of Persia Animation Reference 1985 from jordan mechner on Vimeo.

Just look at the stutter step after the jump. Completely authentic!

How did I miss this?

"...just because you have an individual right does not mean that the state or local government can't constrain the exercise of that right..."

Obama in the 2008 Primary debate with Clinton

They were talking about gun rights but man! That is just an insane thing to say and I heard nothing in it from the media (big shock). he claims our rights are like our property, property can be seized by the state and so can our rights. What good are they then when they can be removed from us at will?

God help us if this guy gets in with a Liberal Supermajority. I'm moving to Mars with DredBen.

Cutting edge science in your home

Researchers have just discovered that scotch tape exhibits luminescence when unpeeled. Not only that, but in a vacuum it produces serious amount of x-rays. I was unable to duplicate the glow with scotch tape but I could get it too work by opening a bandaid packet. It glows blue/green distinctly! Bugnuts insane is what that is.

Time for your morning meme

Nice.

Yeah this song rocks

Genius...or should I say Mad Genius?

Love that guy!

Read the Writings of 5th Graders from 1931

They have transcribed a book of 5th grade writings on the web. Read a few, and think that some of those boys may have been dying a decade later in France. Sobering.

I've got a bracelet too..it's from..uh...uh

What an orator!



In other news...nah I'll post it separate from this.

Wiiiiiiii!!!

Well, just Wii.

I gave the spouse clearance to buy a new bedspread and sheet combo thing and she gave me clearance to spend my Wii fund! Yeah! So we went out and found...nothing. Her bed set was not anywhere and Gamestop, Circuit City, Target, and Walmart did not have any Wiis. Not one. Not a single Wii in Central PA. Except for Best Buy, they had about 8. Thanks Best Buy, you guys rock!

So I start hooking this thing up and The Spouse watches her movie flick and I head over to my buddy Dwayne's place to check out his new PS3. Man is that thing a beast! Sweet.

I get home around 12am and decide to try out my Wii. It is now 2:16 and I can totally say, I would not trade that Wii for a PS3 or 360 any day of the week. It is the perfect system for the family.

Going to have to pick up a second controller though. One won't cut it. I'll blog further about it later, oh and I love Wiiware!

Goodbye CERN...Hello Master Chief

Halo should be new name for collider, says public

17 September 2008

After massive, worldwide public response, with its media office deluged by thousands of entries, the RSC has chosen the winner of its competition to suggest a new, inspiring name for the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

Fed up with the contrived acronyms that plague the world of science, the RSC picked a suggestion which is simple, memorable, and brings to mind the deserved grandeur of perhaps the most important experiment ever built.

Halo conjures visions of radiant beauty, power and wisdom. The circle of light reflects the collider's form; it is a crowning achievement of science and engineering. It also gives more than a nod to the experiment's importance to religious debate.

It was by far the most popular entry, with hundreds of people suggesting the name. The winner of the competition was chosen at random from those who suggested Halo; this was Aaron Borges of Rhode Island, USA, who wins $892 (£500).

The RSC will be formally suggesting the new name to CERN and the Institute of Physics.

Some reports say that the RSC is suffering from "professional jealousy"; far from it. The RSC congratulates the physics community with nothing but admiration for their amazing project - it just has a very boring name.

Several other entries to the competition were popular. Colliderscope garnered many votes, with members of the public revelling in the pun on "kaleidoscope" - and some apparently oblivious to it.

Black Mesa, the name of an ill-fated research facility in the computer game franchise Half-life, was particularly well represented by gamers who Dugg media coverage of the competition on the social bookmarking site Digg.

Lots suggested that to find the answer to life, the universe, and everything, we should name the experiment after the computer designed to do just that in Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Deep Thought.

Other favourites were The Particrasher, E=M25, The Big Banger and Big Bang Two Point Oh.

It's nearly 1 am and I am immune to the gag inducing affects of vomit.

Yup, picking vomit chunks out of my hair. and boxers, and bathroom rugs. Wiping it up off the floor and washing the crib sheets and washed Seven of Three twice. I have never seen so much vomit come out of a kid. Ever. The day The Spouse of Proteinstar is off with the ladies I'm cleaning the second major vomit episode the family has ever seen. Coincidence? I think not.

It probably was the brownie and ice cream he had for dessert, and 102 temp. Well looks like my trip to EA is kaput. back to cleaning the floors, and then hopefully I'll have time for a long long shower. I'd show pics but man do I look nasty. Seriously, I have a blanched burger king french fry chunk wedged between my left ring finger and my left middle finger. I'm leaving it there to help me feel more miserable.

Do Do do Do DO do Do Do DO do DO...nevermind

A humdinger of an answer

Yesterday in class we did a simple experiment to look at surface tension and cohesion in order to further grasp the practicalities of the scientific method. The students were comparing the cohesion of water to the cohesion of water mixed with soap. I then asked the following question:

1. Explain your results from both parts of the experiment in terms of cohesion and surface tension.

Her answer? It was liquid

(smack! palm slapping forehead)

We don't need no water let the mother...watch your mouth!

Well today was an interesting day. Security runs out of the girl's loo yelling fire. I yell fire to the assistant principal and grab the fire extinquisher. Seconds later a cloud of yellow powder snuffs out the fire in the paper towel dispenser.

The fire company shows up but mission accomplished already by PROTEINSTAR!

I hear there will be a parade in my honor down Front St next week.

Books to get you wicked excited about Fallout 3

Read it in a day. The man is a master in describing the various consistencies of ash. Ash, wet ash, slushy ash, bloody ash, cold ash, gore strewn ash, trampled ash, you name it. This is one seriously ashy book. And it's a decent read, the dialogue if condensed would fill maybe 4 pages, font size 12. Not nearly as depressing as SirFrancisDrake made it out to seem. Honestly I thought the woodsmoke smelling savior was going to feast on his lower extremities while hauling him down the coast in a wagon. But good all the same. Excellent post-apocalyptic doomsday book.

The other one I'm almost done with but there is no physical way I could read it in an entire day is the unabridged and complete...


Not nuclear weapons this time but bioweapons ala 'Captain Trips'. I'm not done but he's going all metaphysical on me. I prefer my doomsday books to by light on thought and heavy on survival and biker gangs with crazy getups.

What was Lucas thinking...

...naming the one fat pilot Porkins?

Let me introduce you to AWESOME

Pleasure to meet you Awesome...Charmed I'm sure.

Nerd! Thank you, I prefer Geek.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/03/09/opinion/09opart.large.gif

yup that's me. And DredBen, and SirFrancisDrake.

Messiah College and too much time

Brak reminds me of college and all the time I frittered away enriching my character and sense of self. Totally time well spent.

Facebook

The ultimate in social interactivity and super internet timewaster. And I just signed up. Yikes. Well after a couple of friends who I see about once every 3 years or so told me to get on, well I did. So there, I'm on. Send me some flair or have your zombie hug me or whatever other wicket retaaded things you do on there.

I feel like such a follower...

The City of Ember

I'm reading this children's/young adult book that will soon be a movie and have really been enjoying it. It's totally a cross between Brazil and any of the Fallout games. And with Fallout 3 I can totally see Doon checking his Pipboy 3000 about air quality in those lower pipeworks!



Anyway I'll have a full on review when I'm done.

In response to our discussion at dinner

See I told you I read it somewhere.

Well here's something

I'm probably a little worse for watching that.

Brand new Dawn of War

If you played the last one you know why I'm blogging about Dawn of War II. Best 40K RTS out there. The original Dawn of War had a better opening vid. But this one does have a Space Marine dreadnought crushing a Eldar witch in one hand and flaming another in the face. (SWEET!)



Here's the original, you decide which is better. The dreadnought speaks in the second one. That's pretty cool.

Whole Crap Amazing Game News

Huge game news...just huge.

Blizzard just (well June 28th)announced Diablo 3.

Isometric view...random dungeons...random everything actually...3D graphics...partially destructive environments...larger RPG...more story focus...huge focus on amazing loot...

YESSSSSSSS!!!!!

Then on the kind of still huge news only slightly disappointing is THQ's announcement of their Warhammer 40k MMO. Only it's going to focus on the RPG side, and they recognize the importance of vehicles in the IP. What the heck is that? "They recognize?" What's to recognize, huge Space Marine Rhinos, Baslisks, I mean vehicles are an absolute must, no question.

So well I'm ecstatic about Diablo3 but I'll weep with Sir Francis Drake about what could have been. Gamesworkshop...you dudes really missed the boat in trying to have THQ go all RPG on ya. When has 40k ever really been about roleplay? Inquisitor fell on it's giant size models butt.

ELP and friends

There were these guys named Emerson, Lake and Palmer. They were joined much later by a group called The Arcade Fire. And now Coldplay has discovered the awesomeness of the wicked amazing super mind blowing organ. It should be mandatory at every single church to fire that bad boy up and lay out a few bars of Iron Butterfly, or well here are a few options for Mr. Church Organist.







And then the master...although I consider Handel to be pretty amazing himself.

Coldplay

Who knows how long this link will last but enjoy it while you can.

Some pretty sweet Christian imagery coming from these lyrics, granted the author worships Zeus but hey he's got a great big white beard too.

You need to check out Viva la Vida. A little pretentious, Roman cavalry choirs sound cool but it's also pretty invented. I can't help to think he meant Calvary.

Well still for the bursting at the seams Brit pop scene these guys still have it. Catchy tunes and sweet riffs.

After seeing Rambo...

That little 20 minute scene with Sly on the .50 caliber is nothing compared to the awesomeness of SLY VS ARNIE!!!! Enjoy.

POPUPS!

Seems my little visitor counter was a Trojan for popups! How nefarious! Well I have since destroyed it. We were at 105 meatsacks though. Noiice. That's the way I say nice nowadays. It's like no-ice just mashed together with a bit of a Cranston slur, kind of like a New York accent.

Anyway, if your on, and I know about 105 of you were, throw up a comment if you get a popup from this blog. Thanks.

Hey, It's a lady!

Let me pour another glass of Courvoisier, because another lady has joined us in the great blogosphere. Apparently not into handles, she totally needs one. Dred Ben I hereby appeal to your sense of webness to get your wife a sufficiently cool and illustrative name. So if you are jonesing for stories about sleep deprived mothers and all sorts of creative activities with finger nail polish and applesauce than look no further than... Eye of the Hurricane!

Now I have to go and work on some of these busted links of mine.

Only two people will care...

and out of those two one is only being polite.

What am I talking about? Well the Heroes V Tribes of the East Expansion contains both the Orcs and the Dwarves!! Wohoo! I thought I'd have to buy the Hammer of Fate expansion for those bearded dudes! Yeah!

See what I meant about only two people caring?

Yeah, that's on my PC

I'm starting a new little segment called...Yeah, that's on my PC.

It's really just a way of me getting all excited about finally being able to play in the big leagues again.

So here is a little trailer for...Crysis. I'm currently running it at 1400X900 res, (not shabby) frame rate is great, graphic settings are MEDIUM. I will tweak them tonight and see what more I can eek out. I honestly don't know if I'm running DX9c or DX10. That I will check tonight since DX10 is the shiznit.

So without further delay I give you... CRYSIS!!

Check out Weezer with the Memes!

The man in the hat is back

SPOILERS!!!

Pyschic Commies? Lost Amazonian Cities? Indy's a Dad?

The new Indiana Jones certainly isn't on par with Raiders by any stretch of the imagination. However, it doesn't leave the franchise a smoking ruin like Lucas did with Star Wars.

It starts off at a decent pace, then scared the crap out of me with this scene in which the lighting was so bad, the dialogue so wooden, it looked like they just threw it together on some mini sound stage. It was scary, 5 minutes into the movie and it seriously looked like something a bunch of fan boys threw together with some old guy that kind of looked like Harrison Ford. Thankfully once Indy enters the warehouse all of that disappears, but it was a nail biting 2 minutes. (The new Indiana Jones looks like this crap!!????)

Typical Indiana Jones running, whipping, punching action, it's nice to hear those gunshot punches again. The pyschic Commies are cool, over the top in the way you expect pyschic Commies would be.

The jokes about Indy being old stop after about 20 minutes and you'll appreciate that. He actually seems to get younger as the film continues. When the movie really speeds up its pure gold. The scene some reviewers are calling Doomtown is amazing (completely unbelievable but absolutely awesome). When the movie slows down it also is great. We learn some serious info about Indy's past. Fought in WWII, he did? He was in the OSS. He was? He was a colonel? Holy crap! Just some really cool stuff about him.

They get chased all over creation in typical Indy fashion, they grave rob and get caught and all sorts of typical Indy stuff. It honestly is a great ride.

Now, of course they still manage to throw in a few scenes that are just ridiculous. Not ridiculous like Doomtown (that's just plan amazingly super awesome) but ridiculous like, I'm embarrassed for them. The tarzan scene is one. Ugh. I mean, doesn't anyone realize how bad a scene like that looks? Just stupid. The fencing scene, just goes from mildly silly to downright stupid.

The first time Indy sees Marion? Absolutely amazing. It was like Harrison Ford was seeing Karen Allen for the first time in 19 years. Really really good shot.

Shia is good. Ray Winstone is tiresomely flat.

The one bummer is that the movie is really not that violent. All of the Indy movies have guys getting punched out of cars and boats and so on. But then there are those shock scenes were you see a rotting corpse shoot out of the wall and its face turns towards the camera its swollen rotting tongue protruding from its grinning maw. YIKES! And then you have the piece de resistance, in which someone gets their face melted or exploded or they rot at high speed. Yet in this film it is surprisingly lacking in this gory awesome moments. The big one at the end of every Indy flick is absent in this one. They kind of have one but totally drop the ball. Sirfrancisdrake and I could dream up about a hundred different ways to have that super gory end set piece and still keep the PG-13 rating. Remember when Belloq became a conduit for the wrath of God and blasted all those nazis? And then his head exploded? PG-13 and awesome. The gory death of IJatKotCS (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) not so gory not so awesome. It could have been great, oh man could it have been wild. Sir Francis get back to me and will chat about what it should have looked like.

Anyway, baddies could have been badder, natives could have actually done something, they could have concocted a better chase scene with the Commies. Maybe one over the falls and down the river! That would have been great!

It's just after the fight scenes of all the Bournes, video games with absolutely breathtaking vistas and amazing cave delving action that this Indy comes off as kind of quaint. The fights should still maintain their gunshot type of over the top stylings but they need to be grittier. Like Indy getting his face pressed against the tank tread gritty. All the fights are like a bunch of pugilists beating the snot out of each other but refusing to fall over. Indy needs to mix it up with Jason Bourne and John McClane.

The cave dwelling scenes need to be exploded so that they wander into massive fantastical panoramas! Huge forgotten temples and ancient fanes. And tribal indians that actually do something.

Del Toro and Jackson should do the next Indy.

Well go see it and get back to me.

DEVIL HORNS!

This will be my themesong when I get my new PC up and running for a glorious game of Mount and Blade with 1000 units on screen!

Summer's Here!

The Boss said it best.



Well, the streetlights shine down on Blessing Avenue
Lovers they walk by, holding hands two by two
A breeze crosses the porch, bicycle spokes spin 'round
My jackets on, I'm out the door
And tonight I'm gonna burn this town down

The girls in their summer clothes
In the cool of the evening light
The girls in their summer clothes, pass me by

A kids rubber ball smacks
Off the gutter 'neath the lamp light
Big bank clock chimes
Off go the sleepy front porch lights
Downtown the stores alight as the evening's underway
Things been a little tight
But I know their gonna turn my way

And the girls in their summer clothes
In the cool of the evening light
The girls in their summer clothes, pass me by

Frankie's diner, an old friend on the edge of town
The neon sign spinning round
Like a cross over the lost and found
The fluorescent lights flick over Pop's Grill
Shaniqua brings the coffee and asks "Fill?" and says "Penny for your thoughts now my boy, Bill"

She went away, she cut me like a knife
Hello beautiful thing, maybe you could save my life
In just a glance, down here on magic street
Loves a fool's dance
And I ain't got much sense, but I still got my feet

The girls in their summer clothes
In the cool of the evening light
The girls in their summer clothes, pass me by

The girls in their summer clothes
In the cool of the evening light
The girls in their summer clothes, pass me by

Anyone up for a campaign? anyone?

boy I miss those days.

You see it coming but MAN!

What a moving commerical and for insurance! Wow.

The History of Evil

MST3K

I'd forgotten how ridiculously funny these guys were!

The first clip is the worst recorded dialogue ever!!



The second one is courtesy of Sir Francis Drake, I seriously haven't laughed that hard bro in ages!



Big McLargeHuge!!

Just Saw Manhattan Go Through the Wringer

The Spouse and I finally had a chance to get out of the house and catch a flick with some new friends. Fortunately they were both huge JJ Abrams fans and I convinced the Spouse that the movie Cloverfield would be great to watch on the big screen.

I have 2 words about that movie.... WHOLE CRAP!!

It was really really good. If you had given one of those Tokyo dwelling Godzilla fearing Japanese a camcorder back in the day this is the movie you would have ended up with, except I'd be watching it with subtitles.

Not gory but super super intense. I was more worked up about this one then 28 Weeks Later (what a let down that one was).

You might not truly care about these escapees from a Hollister/Abercrombie & Fitch photo shoot, but you certainly don't want to see them bitten in half and exploded from the inside out. Well, maybe you do.

The movie takes itself super seriously, which is vital given the concept. The best thing is the director didn't feel that he had to explain anything. Not one thing. What is the monster? Why is it there? Where did it come from? What the heck are those Deer ticks from hell? And on and on it goes. If the movie took the time to slow down to explain these things it would one, not be believable, and two, slow down the frantic pace of the movie to a crawl.

I for one am dying to find out what it is and all that but a sequel would be lame. A second video, a movie done from the perspective of the troops, some scientist and his young son trying to figure out the beasts motivation, with the President shrieking that he can't nuke Manhattan while his Generals all declare the city lost. Yeah, that's been done. It would be cool if the President got into jet and flew right into the monsters mouth blowing it up.

I could totally make movies.

UFO's in TX

You know back in the 50's when they were seeing these things in Arizona and stuff and couldn't manage to get footage of it you could explain it away due to the fact that no one had cameras or camcorders to any extent.

But in 2008? Please! Every shlub has a camcorder in their cellphone so they can be taking footage as they call CNN, FOX news and a host of other media outlets. ANd they were flying around for weeks and no one got anything? OK.