A Geekish View of Life

As some of you know I am an online comic addict of a high order, I currently have 38 bookmarks that I check everyday. But one of the first and one of my faves is 10K Commotion. DDR, nice art, cool characters = a groovy web comic. And like any good geek I also take the personality quizes that go along with it. Or maybe I’m just a sad geek. either way this one was fun. Mostly because I love the comic but I think it’s pretty fun anyway. So here is the result of the 10K Commotion personality quiz. I am (drum roll please)

Who Are You in the 10K Commotion? (10 Questions to Find Your Inner 10K Star)
brought to you by Quizilla
Go read the comic and try the test. It’s just that fun and easy. ^_^

This is just too funny for words. Appently several think tanks that OSS (Open Source Software) is bad for life and business and the economy. Oh, and if one reads deep enough in the articles it turns out these groups are funded by none other than Microsoft. Ironic, no?

This has to be one of the coolest ideas ever! It’s so simple, elegant and … and well so very Apple. Feast your eyes upon AirPort Express! It slices, it dices, it moves your music and expands your wireless network! Did I mention it’s platform independent? Yeah, Mac or PC and probably even Linux if you have WiFi running on it. ::sniffffff:: So beautiful.

I just realized I haven’t posted in the past few days. Sorry about that. Actually it’s probably closer to a week that I haven’t. ::sigh:: Oh well. Life is good, although a bit busy at the moment. I have an video editing project due on Saturday and VBS too. Whew. Herding three year olds around is tiring. Plus I call my lady almost every night. *ahem* But I doubt very much if that interestes you much. So I’m gonna switch subjects.

G4TechTV

It sucks. I don’t like it. Tech TV may not have been the strongest channel ever but it had a solid and loyal following. Plus with wonderful shows like Call for Help it was certinaly growing it’s audience. Then along comes Comcast with big bags of buXorz and TechTV is sold. Comcast plans on joining it’s G4 gaming channel with TechTV. Sounds good in theory. Then you try to watch it. OMG! I didn’t realize that they were going to gut one of my favorite channels and fill the hole with crap. Some of it is fine but most of it suXorz h4rdc0re.

I’ll start with what I like:

• Icons - a show about the people who make the games. Very cool, give one a view into their mind set and their philosophy on games and gaming.
• Judgement Day - a review show. This is much like X-Play but with the different reviewers view points it still stands up well. The reviews are pretty well balanced. Tommy is scewed to the modern style of game play while Victor is a long time enthusist and enjoys the old shcool as well. I tend to disagree with Tommy on many points but I can usually see why he thinks the way he does. Victor is really the guy I like, he is very much like myself in view point. Because I loves me the old school games and games that are not really ‘new’ but fun. (Super Monkey Ball anyone?) Plus they always have the “hidden gem” and hardware/perfiferal review. I give it an 8 out of 10 (
• Pulse - a news style show on gaming. Nothing too fancy but solid and well done. Cheat - this is lower on my list but it’s a solid show and the host is likeable.

What I don’t like (hold on this will take a little while):

• G4TV.com - yeah that’s the name of the show. Originally a web cast only, if memory serves correct. The show would be better if I actually liked the hosts … but I don’t. I realllllly don’t. The guy just annoys me, and the two women seem like they are eternally screeching at everything. Gah! Shouting is not interesting or dynamic! It’s just loud. Also the show is supposed to be a call in/viewer interaction show. But when ever people call in they hardly get two or three sentences in and the hosts take over. Granted I have been spoiled watch quality call in shows like Call for Help and The Screen Savers but the hosts really annoy me by cutting off the caller and then, seemingly, ignore them till they need to move on. I am just confused. If it was just the hosts views that would make sense but why are they taking calls when the callers don’t get to talk? So the show is only a half hour long . . . so?! Expand it. Put up some effort and make it worth watching.
• Players - it’s the gamers version of Cribs. It makes me want to take the channel out of the active list on my satalite. I find nothing about this show that makes me want to watch. I really don’t care what Limp Bizkit plays on the road. I don’t give a damn about what Blink 182 has in their homes. If this show was a weekly speical thing, I wouldn’t mind so much. But it’s every friggin’ day! BLAH!
• Sweat - it’s just like Players but with sports people. Again, why do I care? Okay once a week an hour or a half sure fine. But every day? Why? Why?!!
• Arena - games as a competive sport. For the love of God, why?! Hold a contest sure, fine, go for it. Open call for all teams, any one can enter. Great. But must we be submitted to watching it? I don’t mind watching good players play that’s all fine and dandy. But do I have to watch a team that is completely under matched go up against the regining champ? Why? What does that prove? Further, who cares? So you beat a buch of noobz! Whooopdie crap! I want to see teams with a fighting chance go against eachother in a mad dash, gun blazing, big bad explodie show down! I want to see something that leaves me gratifide in watch in the match. This is why the World Cup is such an amazing event. The worlds best players go at it and we get to watch some damn good football (or soccer if you prefer). This show does not do that. They simply take all comers. Which is not bad either but an “all comers” series should be some sort of event not the norm. Blah.

There are a couple of other shows that are mostly filler. They kinda just take up space, very much like Unscrewed. But the thing that gets me the most was the cancelation of Call for Help. A show that helped the noobs find their way though the geek-speak and alphabet soup that is modern computer tech. Even I a long time geek learned new tricks and tips from it. The finally thing that really pisses me off is the intrusion of the MTV culture onto my TechTV. I was quite happy to be Trojan Condom commercial free for several years. Now . . . ugh. I watch as little as I can of the G4 programing. Oh one last bitch and then I’m done. Why have the Tech TV shows been totally shafted when it comes to episode descriptions? Why does Players have an nice full description while The Screen Savers gets an piddly “Comptuer technology”? Why? Stupid, Stupid G4! Damnit! Grrrr! ::sigh:: Okay. I’m done. Now go do something. Take care, all.

Today I helped put new flooring in the laundry room. That meant peeling up the linolium; yes, it is about as annoying as striping wallpaper. But once we got the heat gun it went much quicker. But the best part really was working with Lenord. The guy has to be over 70 and yet he works like a guy about 1/2 his age. He never got beyond the 8th grade in school, yet he has never really been without work. He used to be a truck driver, his wife was one too. He can sight most measurements without using a tape, although he still uses on so that he is accurate. He has probably forgotten more about carptendry and mechanical engine stuff than I’ll ever know. And it’s not just college head knowledge, it’s the wisdom of experience. He told me stoires of when he was working on jobs with college grads who couldn’t read a tape measure by sight. He liked to call them “nail benders” instead of carpentenders. He has all sorts of useful tips and tricks, and he’s still working, chugging away. I can only hope I am have as alert and agile as he is when I get to be that age. And I also see this as a case for advocasy against euthenasia. Sure it sounds good on paper but it really doesn’t work out well in real life. Besides if only the young survive they’ll never learn anything.

Okay. Just because something is on the net does not mean that it is free. Copyrights still apply. Don’t steal especially art. If you use someone’s art 1. ask their permission and 2. give them the friggin’ credit! Art is not something that just appears on the internet. It is the effort of real people who are either doing it for personal expresion or for fun or sometimes for what profit they can get off it. Most of the time they don’t mind you using the art as long as you link back to them and give them credit. It’s not much just aknowledging who did what.

Case in point. I point you to the blog of one Space Coyote. Her latest entry covers this very subject. It’s really quite sad to see just how bad this theft is. It hasn’t happened to me yet but that’s only because nothing I have is worth stealing. But that’s a differnt matter. The principle is the same; DON’T STEAL!