Words for the wise from the mouth of a fool.
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The weblog of Seth Johnson -------------- INKSLINGER.ORG -------------- OD ARCHIVES -------------- FEEDS Posts:  Shared Items:
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Saturday, April 13, 2002
Feeling better today, still plugging away at the Manuscript.
Took advantage of the beautiful spring afternoon to go kicking around, which ended up being a drive wandering through southeastern Wisconsin. Got to see several parking lot brat sales and car washes, a house in the last moments of burning to the ground, the gates to the House on the Rock (which reminds me--we really need to set up the annual Human Head trip to that madhouse), and enough other miscellaney to clear out an Auto Bingo card (see the third image in the Google search--apparently the page itself doesn't exist anymore.)
Had lunch at a sports bar in Black Earth called Rookie's. Though I'm far from a sports fan, I was still entertained by the sheer accumulation of sports memorabilia on display, and my friend Rob once again brought up the Monkeyfan idea for a bar called "Geeks" with all sorts of geeky stuff hung around--D&D module covers, old Atari 2600 cartridges, comic books, action figures, Barbie Dream Homes, all that stuff; it would bring in the true geeks like flies to honey, and it would draw in non-geeks to check out geekiness from a museum-like perspective while drinking beer ("Beer in big glasses, Caffeine in bigger glasses" would be right at the top of the menu.)
I was thinking about going to catch a movie, but Andy just called and has lured me into another outdoor activity. Curse you, nice weather! Will I never see a movie or get any writing done again?
Friday, April 12, 2002
For those who haven't heard, blogger Leslie Harpold's domain hoopla.com was recently stolen out from under her, and it looks like she might be screwed. The general reaction seems to be 1) so long as you're registered via Network Solutions you're in danger of the same happening to you, so 2) don't be registered via Network Solutions. The meme is convincing and spreading fast, so if Network Solutions is planning on responding or recovering, they better move equally quickly.
At home, a bit under the weather, but pushing on to get some writing done. Which, of course, means that I'm here posting instead:
Well, it's no longer just consumers battling the CBDTPA--Gateway Computers has come out with a statement on the Digital Music page of their website (click on "Protect Your Rights") taking a stand for consumer usage rights (a good thing, even if they follow it up with a little bit of butt-covering 'don't do anything illegal' speak). And apparently they're even airing TV ads on the issue (which I'm unable to check out over my home modem connection, but it's on the same page.)
Elsewhere on the web, Google has released APIs for independant developers. This is the way to build on success--take your strong product, open it up to the most enthusiastic parts of your user base (as well as interested third parties) to see what they want and try to do, and then use licenses to maintain that slight degree of control needed.
And finally in the Technology Good News Trifecta, JP will undoubtedly be glad to hear that Microsoft's .NET strategy isn't going as well as planned.
Thursday, April 11, 2002
Atomic Mummies? Chimpatron? That, my friends, is cool stuff. Too bad Lost Continents has been shelved...
A lengthy but excellent and entertaining article (on Cockeyed.com, home of the ever-fun "How Much is Inside" section) on the "Work from Home!" and "Lose Weight Now!" signs you see along the road, tracing the vast majority of them to a single source, the Herbalife Corporation. It's always nice to have someone else do the legwork to confirm your suspicions.
Hey--if you have old computer equipment, and if you're looking for a tax break, my friend Chris Pagel reports that the Dane County Humane Society has an aging computer network nearing terminal collapse, and they're looking for donations of anything from video cards and monitors to new systems. And by "new" he means anything newer than a 286/44, several of which are still in active use...or at least, as active as is possible. If you have, and if you want, I can put you in touch with Chris--just email me.
If you go to the site of Rune fan Mike Ryan you can now download his newest Rune map, DM-Wendol ][. First and foremost you should check it out because it's a terrific, well-made map. But if you have, say, some unspoken frustration toward me, there's a secret area you can find where you can throw axes at pictures of myself and a few of the other Heads. Go on, do it--I already have. Don't forget to bounce on the beds and smash a flagon of mead in the Crouching Wendol while you're there.
Excellent news on the CBDTPA front. (Thanks to Liana--who caught the story first on the Globe Tech site.)
Wednesday, April 10, 2002
I dunno, Karla. While you are technically (that is, gramatically) correct, I think that the colloquial roots of your annoyance run so deep (read the usage note at the bottom of the entry) that you have been 'outvoted' by historical usage, and the 'correct' meaning of the word is about to shift.
Much like Rez was aptly defined as "what people in 1985 thought video games would be like in 2000", I think this page is what some people, starting about three years ago and continually ever since, think the web will be like "in five years". Maybe they're right, but though it has a lot of style it doesn't quite seem like functional style yet (though it could certainly be the seeds of such...)
Interesting; an index of declassified CIA papers on the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, if you actually want to read any of the papers you have to go to Maryland, but it's an interesting springboard for the espionage-minded (he says as he gears up to run a Spycraft game...)
From today's Penny Arcade:
I respect him even if I'm not crazy about his Tribes philosophy. Myself, I am of the opinion that a year of concerted bitchery - the whiner's choir of the TribalWar forums - has finally secured for themselves the Tribes 2 they wanted to begin with. Well, they can have it. I was never one for community reindeer games, which is why I have my own site and they have a handle on some fucking message board.
Tuesday, April 09, 2002
Excellent. I was hoping that Wired would put up an online version of Bruce Sterling's sidebar on possible strategies terrorists might use to take out our space-based technology. My favorite: "Wait It Out--Basically indistinguishable from giving up." "Peace is War", the article that the sidebar was attached to, and a related article on potential future crisis scenarios are also worth reading.
Not much time to post today, as I'm busy ripping my computer apart and putting it back together. So I give you: Doll Dwarfs versus the Crushing Giant Beasts!:
Monday, April 08, 2002
Don Henley rages against the machine, and it's a beautiful thing. I sense that he wanted to write a much shorter note and then got up a head of steam and couldn't stop. I officially name him a Friend of the Revolution.
Believe it or not, "Realism May Be Taking the Fun Out of Games" is not a rant by Bezzy or JP, but an article from Sunday's New York Times (free registration required, as always with NYT content). I will, however, be interested to read their responses to it.
JP and I were sitting around in the lounge here at work today, breaking down the merits and flaws (well, mainly flaws) of Ico's travelling third-person camera system, and over the course of the conversation several other people came into the room one at a time, listened for a moment, and then walked away. Made me realize that even among the geeky, one may still be a geek. Of course, I have the same reaction when the Maddenheads around the office start talking football...
From the Did You Know category of Trivial Pursuit: Did you know that every time you listen to an MP3, you're almost listening to Suzanne Vega?
It must be a day for related follow-up links. If you remember the guy visiting every Starbucks in America, here's his companion in obsession: a guy visiting every McDonalds in North America.
Hmmm. This site's search engine is a bit screwed up, so I can't find where I posted the link to the guy who built a roller coaster in his backyard. See, I wanted to repost it as an accompaniment to this link passed along by Liana: the guy who has built a monorail around his garden (a MONORAIL society Exclusive!) (I can't help it; whenever I hear the word 'monorail' this is what I think of.)
Hurray! Bezzy has located an online version of the Hi-Ho parody that Mike Flynn showed me a while back--our path of madness has come full circle!
Sunday, April 07, 2002
Kids will be able to take tests on the Xbox? Um, great. I guess I'm all for better educational software, but I'd rather see another teacher (or a teaching assistant, or something, say, human and adaptable) in every classroom before I'd want every kid to have a controller. I learned a lot from the Oregon Trail, Lemonade Stand, and Snooper Troops, but I learned more from my teachers.
No sign of the Hi-Ho Gang, but this appears to be yet another thread in the Hi-Ho web, the online hub for their broadband content. Delve for weirdness to your heart's content.
"There’s so much joy in life, so many pleasures all around,
The pleasure of insomnia is one I’ve never found;
With all life has to offer, there’s so much to be enjoyed,
The pleasures of insomnia are ones I can’t avoid.
Who needs sleep?"
Matt Yglesias provides independant confirmation of something I feared--that clicking links and sending email won't be enough to stop the Consumer Broadband and Digitial Television Promotion Act. I'll be hand-writing a letter (and when was the last time I did that?) tomorrow.
I really need to start reading InstaPundit on a more regular basis so I can tell if Glenn Reynolds is joking or not when he suggests invading Saudi Arabia...
Hello, typophiles! Enjoy a link to the Typographic Signage Project!
For everyone else, here's a Swedish Mork and Mindy fansite!
Following up on yesterday's link to the Periodic Table of Comic Books, here's the Periodic Table of the Behavioral Elements. I love how nearly every element starts with a claim that it is the most important element (although egotisim, strangely, does not)--it reminds me of Amber RPG character creation ("Warfare is the most stat"; "Psyche is the most important stat"; "Endurance is the most important stat"...)
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