echo(”Montani Semper Liberi!”);
I really can’t concentrate tonight. I’m exhausted and burnt out from all of these projects and reports and such. Oh well. Just one more week…
Anyways, here’s a video of my CS470 Final Project! The sound is slightly messed up, but enjoy just the same!
Posted in Uncategorized.
So, I scored a beta code from Massive Action Game, and I’m pretty excited to try this out. I wasn’t aware that the beta required you to have huge downloads very time you want to play it. Craptastic, right? You bet! Never fear! I’ve compiled a list of possible activities to do while waiting for this epic download to finish.
Do you really want to freak your neighbors out? Simple! Just go out on your balcony and try to be obviously discrete. If they ask questions, explain that you are in fact a secret operative and trying to fight the Russian terrorists. You can also offer one of your special brownies if you wish. You will be awarded bonus points (read: brownies) if you comment on their sexual abilities and provide constructive criticism on how they can “improve”.
Seriously… I’m convinced that I could complete my semester graphics project in the time it takes for this beta to download. I might even be able to write MAG all over again. If you have a turtle-speed internet connection, you may want to pick up several more projects to fill the time.
Your kids will want to play this beta too. Take this activity slow! You have plenty of time. Perhaps you could suggest MAG as a 1 month wedding anniversary present? Just sayin’.
You could seriously earn an associates degree from DeVry University in the time it takes for this beta to download. I’m currently studying HVAC, and I feel I will be well prepared for the workplace and for whatever class in MAG is the equivalent of an Engineer.
I opted for this option. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
So, what did YOU do while the MAG beta was downloading? Hmmmm?
Posted in Random.
I’ve been mulling over ways to start LAN parties in Morgantown for quite some time. My opinion since moving here a year and a half ago has been that Morgantown would be a fantastic place for a LAN party given the right leadership and stubborness. Unfortunately, I found that securing space for such an event is rather difficult if you aren’t affiliated with WVU in some way.
It was suggested today that I help organize the WVU student chapter of the International Game Developers Association. The idea is that programmers and artists who are interested in game design can meet and share ideas, collaborate, and other things. We can get game industry professionals to do seminars and, of course, do huge LAN parties. This would also help jump start the game development cirriculum for bachelor’s and masters students that’s currently being developed.
This also means I have to pick my battles. I had earlier wanted to try starting a 2600 group in Morgantown. I’m far more interested in the IGDA chapter. I’d definitely still participate in a 2600 group, but I don’t think I’d choose that when given the option to choose between the two.
I shared my previous experience with planning LAN parties with the advisor, and he seemed very interested in the way the events were used to promote the department in exchange for equipment. In short, it all sounded doable except with a WVU-sized budget. Being a school organization also gives access to rooms such as the NRCCE expo room which is roughly twice the size of the Tech Center Ballroom. This appears from the outside to be the opportunity to plan the LAN party I’ve dreamed of with all of the resources I’ve ever wanted. On the other hand, I haven’t dealt very much with the department, so Admiral Ackbar may have useful input on this. I also have to consider if I can keep up with my school, research, and work responsibilities with the added leadership responsibility. I must remeber that I am a student first and foremost.
If you’re a WVU student who is seeking a degree in Computer Science or an Arts degree that would be associated with some form of digital art or design for video games, weigh in on the comments of Facebook or my blog @ praisechaos.com. Feel free to share this information to those who would be interested. If you’re interested in a huge Morgantown LAN party, let me know as well. This won’t be starting until next semester, so I’ve got some time to mull it over.
Most of today was spent adjusting floor tiles and moving around high-performance cluster machines (also called clusters from this point forward) from their old home to a new refridgerated home. This is really the first instance to my knowledge that the College of Engineering as a whole has listened to the wishes of researchers who take advantage of the power of high-performance computing. What’s next? A collaborate effort to provide all departments access to high-performance computing? I won’t get my hopes up.
It annoys me to see universities such as Purdue provide services such as the Rosen Center for High-Performance Computing while WVU, more specifically the College of Engineering, fails to provide this sort of access to departments. It’s not as if this sort of research occurs in Computer Science only. I count at least six different high-performance cluster projects across Computer Science/EE, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and Chemical Engineering. These are just the projects I’m aware of; there could be more!
The possibility does exist that there is an initiative for high-performance computing, but, if so, why haven’t I heard of it and why are these groups not using that service? Why spend your research dollars on building your own cluster when you can use a professionally maintained cluster. I don’t understand the lack of cooperation in some groups especially when there is clear benefit for all parties involved.
On another note, I’ve installed Wordpress for Blackberry, and I’m trying to post something on my blog daily. It’s also appearing on my Facebook as notes, so you should definitely visit the blog and leave comments there.
That is all for tonight.
Posted in Linux.
Excuse me, Comast. Let me ask you an honest question. I would receive bills printed on sheets of paper when I first began service with your fine company. I would always opt to pay the bills via the online payment system, because that’s what all of the cool techie kids do. I kept thinking “Gee! It sure would be nice to get these in my e-mail! We’d save a lot of paper like that!”
As if you were reading my mind, Ecobill appears in the distance! Ecobill will allow me to get my billing statement in the mail. Your commercials proceed to tell me that this Comcast’s way of being environmentally responsible. “Excellent!” I think to myself and go off on my merry way.
So, if Comcast is trying to be environmentally responsible, then why do I keep receiving these paper advertisements in my mail box? If I want to upgrade my service, I’ll call and tell you about it! This seems ridiculous. You have no problem saving paper if it’s informing us of a fee we are legally required to pay, but you seem to be willing to cut down entire forests if this would get me to upgrade to a more expensive package. Your message is becoming a little contradictory.
Don’t mistake me for a raging environmentalist. I just try to do my part. I turn off lights in my house when I’m not using them. I try to maintain green servers (to the best my budget can allow). I drop off printer cartridges at Office Depot. I try to take my papers and such to the local public bins for recycling. I sure can just stick the Comcast advertisements in the paper bin for the recycling plant, but how about you just stop sending them to me at all Comcast?
I’m glad we had this discussion.
Posted in Uncategorized.
Please, Valve, explain to me why you can’t release games on time. You released the Left 4 Dead 2 demo late. It was ridiculously buggy for anyone with the misfortune of trying to run it on Windows 7. I made it through the demo once. I crashed every other time.
Now, it seems that you’re 10 minutes late with the Left 4 Dead 2 game. I’ve already getting messages containing “this won’t unlock until tomorrow zomglol”. Your forums also appear to be down. If you just unlocked the game, we’d all be happy.
We would like our game now please. kthxbai.
Posted in Uncategorized.
I’ve not updated this in a while, so I’ll try to do a better job of writing meaningful updates. Until then, here’s a few videos I took of the band “Yes” when they played in Pittsburgh, PA. If you want to see more, check my YouTube page. The link is on the left side.
Owner of a Lonely Heart
“Machine Messiah”
“Astral Traveler”
Posted in Full Motion Monday.
So, Ubuntu 9.04 is most definitely the new sexy. My first experience with it has left me in awe. My laptop boots in the time it takes for me to turn around and plug the power adapter into the wall. It’s sleek and sexy in almost every way, and, if you haven’t downloaded it yet, go update or do a fresh install.
Unfortunately, an ugly bug showed it’s face when I tried to authenticate with my web server after generating and adding keys. When attempting to ssh into the server, you may be denied with an error:
Lovely, isn’t it? Luckily, it appears that the fine fellows that hang out on the Ubuntu and especially Mr. Dustin Kirkland were hot on the case. Dustin found a way around the issue. The problem can be fixed by simply changing the environment variable SSH_AUTH_SOCK to absolutely anything. 
This seemed to fix the issue for me, so thanks to Mr. Kirkland and the fine folks on the Ubuntu bug tracker!
Posted in Linux.
So, I’m looking at a three-day weekend here. I’m pretty excited about the prospect of wasting time with my little brother all weekend, but I’m not too thrilled with the odd feeling in my teeth. I had the distinct pleasure of getting a root canal at 12:15 today, and, even though I was numbed like crazy, it still sucked. I didn’t experience physical pain, but I did feel some crazy kind of nerve pain. It wasn’t a terrible pain like I was crying and twisting in pain, but it was the kind of infrequent pain that surprised me. The plus side to the whole root canal thing is that your tooth feels better almost immediately after the operation.
My 360 has died again, and it’s on it’s way back to Microsoft to be repaired again. I’m considering selling the old 360 and buying an Elite that won’t die on me every few months. I’m getting tired of messing with it. Too bad most of my games are on 360, so I’d just move to my PS3 permanently.
That’s all for the moment. I’m spacing out enough as it is, and I need to sleep.
Posted in News.
Let’s see if this post appears at http://planet.mountainstategamers.org. If so, we have success!!!
EDIT: Okay, let’s see if this works this time.
Posted in MSG.