Evil lurking in homes

It was late, probably three in the morning, and I was lying on my couch watching tv. I do this from time to time (read: always) and everything was going just dandy. I wasn't thinking about the heat are about my purpose in life, so I was fairly content, when all of a sudden, scuttling into my periphery is a monster centipede. Now I'm not very insect phobic, although on a home insect scale, the centipede probably gives me the willies the most, but even then it's not very much because they usually crawl along the ground. They are fast buggers and in general when the days get warmer I look below my feet to make sure I don't step on one (that sucks by the way, hairy and the legs keep twitching) BUT THIS ONE well it was crawling down the pillow and was very nearly on my stomach so I half jumped (read: flinched and fell) away from it. That night I had a dream where I was dealing with a whole bunch of them a la Temple Of Doom. It's annoying how literal my dreams can be sometimes...

(I hate you centipede)

Look at me, I'm an HTML

by Shaggy

After posting the embedded youtube clip yesterday, and realizing that no mater what size it was it would still get cut off by the size panels, I realized the 'Posting' section of this blog has been too thin.

So, with some handy dandy coding fixes in blogger's HTML mode, it's been widened by 50 pixels.

Enjoy the extra space, kids. You've earned it.

Summer Winter Clothes

It's hot times now and I've switched all my winter clothes for summer clothes. If I lived in a part of the world where they only need summer clothes would I have half as much clothes or twice as much summer clothes?

Spawn on your Bro Coop Style

by Shaggy

As we JUST started our run on Lost Planet 2, figure, this is appropriate.

SPEED SWIMMERS: The Unreadable

by Shaggy

Fact one: Speed swimmers sometimes shave their eyebrows off to avoid any sort of speed resistance their body may have against the water.

Fact two: Facial expressions involve eyebrows.

Question: Can anyone tell what a speed swimmer is thinking when they're not saying anything?

Doctors Know Better?

I was at a Doctors Conference and they were debating the merits of certain medical procedures and which one was best. There were two sides, each with a presenter who informed the audience of doctors why their way was the right way.

Before the debaters spoke everyone was asked to vote where they stood on the subject. Then afterward they'd vote again to see if anyone changed their minds. The majority of the participants voted for option A. Then the option A speaker went up to give her talk. She had graph and charts and was speaking about medical advances and I was thinking to myself, wow, this is what a smart persons debate looks like. It's logical, thought out and thorough, people sitting back are watching and reasoning, this is great!

Then option B stood up, no one liked option B to begin with but then he flashed this grin. He opened with a joke, he made light of option A. His power points had more pictures, it was dumbed down and by the end of the debate the majority of the crowd was on his side. You could almost feel them wanting to chant his name.

Now he did raise some good points, and I'm not saying he was all bad but it kind of freaked me out that a flashy presentation could sway the doctors so much. I felt like they all got Monorailed! Kinda scary.

(Mono-Doh!)

And the award goes to...

by Shaggy

So EVERY field of work and entertainment has an award show of some sort, be it televised or hosted privately at a hotel ballroom or eatery.

That being said...

... are there award shows for achievements in award shows?

I feel the answer is gonna disappoint me either way.

Ukraine, Russia's New Jersey

Television loves to pick on certain locals more than others. On American shows people hate the French, think Canadians are innocent and naive and just flat out make fun of New Jersey. But if you live in France and are watching a french show who's France's French? They can't be despising themselves, is it Italy?

A company in Russia makes episode by episode copies of American sitcoms like Who's the Boss. Another that they've made is The Nanny, remember the one with Fran Drescher. And how do they explain away her crazy voice and character...she's Ukrainian.

The Ukraine, Russia's New Jersey

(This came out on DVD?)

Video games: Straight by default

by Shaggy

*the following I originally posted in response to the Kotaku thread A Short History Of Gay in Video Games

Reading this thread, it seems the demand is for a 'normal' gay character to appear, as opposed to a stereotype, but consider this: what defines a video game character as a heterosexual in the first place?

Historically, the only indication of a male video game character being hetero is that his end goal is to save a female character (and if there's a kiss at the end, that usually solidifies they weren't just 'friends', or it wasn't him just following his assignment)

But where there's a video game character that never mentions his/her gender preference, and they just go about the game, who's to say WHAT their sexual preference is.

The problem game writers (and writers in general) seem to have is, like in life, characters are labeled 'straight' by default, and have to activily prove they're gay to be considered other wise, and as such they rely on the stereotypes.

In the Harry Potter universe, the author J.K. Rowling publicly stated that Dumbledore was gay, because as far as the readers read, he never did anything in the book to indicate he wasn't hetero. And honestly, the same could be said about any of the characters who don't openly indicate they're sexual interest.

So right now, think of a video game character (who doesn't romantically interact with the opposite sex) and ask yourself why you believe they're straight or gay.

Unless they did or said something very obvious to indicate it, it's really difficult to know for sure.

(NOTE: this does not make up for the lack of openly gay characters in games, but my point is, not a lot of characters are openly straight either, it's often just assumed).

Don't Get Bit By Snakes

Getting chomped on by a snake must suck. It seems like it could be a very traumatic event, with all the lunging and unsuspectingness... Also having a gaping wound, and if you're bitten by a venomous snake weird effects will ensue. Thankfully there's anti-venom medicine to cure snake ailments, their IS Anti-Venom, but there won't be in a couple years.

No it's not because some rare plant is going extinct and that's the cure to snake venom. It's because it's not profitable for medicine manufacturers to make them. Yay, I'm so happy to live in a society where they put money first!

(SNAKED!)

1st: The series

by Shaggy

If I were a smarter man with more time on my hands, I'd make an internet show where I'd interview everyone who was first to post "first" as their comment on articles and videos, and ask them how they feel about their accomplishment.

Quick Draw!

In honor of Red Dead Redemption coming out soon I thought I'd answer an age old question. When you're in a gun-slinging stand off is it better to lead or react? Apparently the person to react draws an average advantage of 21 milliseconds faster but because they are behind on the draw it negates that fact sooooooo the answer is, it's too close to call. I'd say draw first, then you're guaranteed a head start.

What Wireless Networks Say About You

Often is the case where one turns on their computer and trolls for free wireless. Or tries to connect onto a wireless network they have access to. I always find it interesting the names people give their routers. Lots aren't renamed they just say Bell and a couple numbers. Others are very straight forward the so-and-so Clan or other names that relate to groups/clan/tribes. Another that pops up are something to the effect of cantstealnow or some other flip off. I feel those are the ones that people try to steal from first just to defy them.

So what makes a good name. Something like HomeSweetHome is too generic. You should probably choose something/ a place that is an easy expression of yourself. That said, you should never write P4NDOR4, because not only does that provide instant repulsion it's doubly tacky because the As were replaced with 4s.

De Club

by Shaggy

Why am I not the clubbing type?

No joke, I live next door to, like, 3 clubs. 3 individual venues where one can dance up the storm or see up and coming bands. And I attend none of them (though I can hear the base beats through most of the night).

But it just occurred to me tonight why.

I enjoy talking more than moving.

I literally get NOTHING out of (attempting) to dance. I don't feel the music or the rhythm. Its not even a matter of being self conscious, there's just nothing in dance for me.

Karaoke, on the other hand...sign me UP!

Running is an Ability

Playing the Beta for Halo Reach is awesome! I love the new load in abilities they have. Just before entering the game you can choose one special abilty i.e jetpack, stealth. The funny thing is that one of the abilities is running. It's super useful, but it's kind of hilarious that running in an ability.

Imagine if everyone could walk but not run. Make for a good chance sequence.

Bad Guys Speak Loudly in Stealth Games

Shaggy and i just finished completing yet another co-op game and thus solidifying our friendship once again. This time it was beating Splinter Cell: Conviction. Overall a very solid game although they assigned practically everything, from jumping over things to picking up guns, to the A button, which was dumb. But besides that and the pointless story it was stealth-er-ific!

Playing through the game one thing kept standing out, all the guards were big ol bladder mouths. They wouldn't shut up! Talking to themselves, each other, yelling at us to come out of the shadows, they worked really hard at making their presence known. Either they were all really scared of the dark and were reassuring themselves or they all had really big egos and couldn't get enough of themselves. Although I do like the fact that they put it in to help players, sometimes it can be a bit overdone.

In Gears of War the bad guys will stop and say "Reloading" When they are reloading so I can pop my gun our and shoot them. Couldn't the developers come up with something better for an alien bad guy (who probably shouldn't be speaking English anyway) say than Reloading. Why didn't they just have them say "Shoot me in the face now" or as they walk away "Coffee break"

(These guys like to reload)