Living in fear is no good to anyone.

Congress votes to place a limit on the time that we occupy the quagmire known as IraqNam. The Senate votes to place a limit on the time that we occupy the quagmire known as IraqNam. Both bills provide $100 BILLION in new money to feed, house, arm, train, replace, treat, armor, protect, and destroy the troops throughout 2007.

In response, the President threatened to veto the bill. According to the today's White House Website, he said, "Congress's failure to fund our troops on the front lines will mean that some of our military families could wait longer for their loved ones to return from the front lines. And others could see their loved ones headed back to the war sooner than they need to."

So, according to Bush, by passing legislation that funds the troops, we are actually causing the occupation to last longer BECAUSE WE PUT A LIMIT ON THE length OF THEIR OCCUPATION OF A FOREIGN COUNTRY?

Wrap your head around that one for a bit. Only within the delusional world inside the Bloatway would anyone even consider making such an illogical, nonsensical argument.

I don't like Kezelis' use of silly words, but that doesn't make him wrong. (All emphasis in the quote above is the author's.)


I won't pay for television service specifically because of crap like this:
When tacky trumps substance

Comics:
Something a little... different.
Anniversary Gift
Sometimes himynameisjamie is fuckedupawesome: http://filthhole.com/?p=50 (NSFP)

GTA4 will be awesome. (HD wmv video)

Being a Yes and Michael Jackson fan, I think this violin performance is pretty awesome.

Puppies are dangerous.

This joke is terrible/great/the-right-word-doesn't-exist:
http://xkcd.com/c241.html

The new Catbank shirt is awesome.

I used the word awesome a bunch up there. I guess it's just awesome.

This paper on the law of confidentiality looks interesting.

This quiz is kinda lame but kinda ok:
( Polyamory Quiz )

I saw this image:
( Violent Crime over time )
I then followed the link at the bottom and read the data.
I then needed to plot it myself to see the data without the clutter of the images:
( Violent Crime over time )
From this data, it is totally unclear as to what caused the decrease in violent crimes, but it is clear that these violent video games have not increased the prevalence of violent crimes.

Digitial Security & Privacy for Human Rights Defenders (a large but informative PDF manual)

Randomness:
Oh no! Nemo!! D:
Some may be offended by this one. It's pretty terrible.
I has a karot

There is movie night tomorrow. We won't be watching Dr. Tran (yet), but I will be making a big turkey and dressing.

Every time I go to Walmart, I glance at the empty shelf the Nintendo Wiis go on. On Tuesday evening, the shelf wasn't empty. There were two. I wanted to buy them both and sell the second to one of my friends at cost or eBay it if there wasn't interest among my friends. While waiting for 40+ minutes for someone to come over to unlock the case (I prodded many employees and there was an announcement over the PA), a couple came over and also wanted one. I didn't feel like being a dick/fighting about it, so I only bought one Wii.
For those of you with Wiis connected to the internet, my code is: 3369 4653 4227 1295

Hopefully the UCSF study will add to the pressure on the US government to rethink its irrational ban on the medicinal use of marijuana -- and its destructive attacks on patients and caregivers in states that have chosen to allow such use. Rather than admit they have been mistaken all these years, federal officials can cite "important new data" and start revamping outdated and destructive policies.

President Bush has not yet subordinated our judiciary to the military, but the more we learn about U.S. attorneys fired for failing to succumb to Justice Department and congressional political pressure, the more the Bush administration looks like the tawdry, third world, small-time dictatorship its opponents accuse it of being.

More anecdotal evidence for the ~30% crazification factor:
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cm/content/view/179/159/

Why Private Police Forces are bad for most of us.

The other day, niap_si_efil lost his phone. He then found it. The condition he found it in sucks, but I was entertained.

I thought I had a good understanding of knitting looms. It appears they can be far more complex.

This is an interesting list. I'm surprised at how few names I recognized.
The 50 Most Important People on the Web

I wanted to post this yesterday, but the internet at work broke.

This month of Indian Cooking class is canceled. :( Maybe next month's class will make, assuming we have enough people.

I randomly found the icon I am using. It's silly.

This is cute little flash game: Sprout

DNA wrapping and copying video.

Giant Cadbury Creme Egg

( Everything Meme )

( You are a criminal. :P )

I went to sleep last night on petfish's couch at about 0200 PST. My body likes waking up at 0800 MST regardless of how tired it is. 5 hours of sleep may be enough for the peak work days of a con, but it's not enough for a vacation. Grrr.

Last night there was a big party in a UW auditorium with 3 big screens playing various games on Xbox 360, Wii and PS2. There was also some good Mario Kart DS action. Pizza and cake was had by all, and everyone seemed to have a good time. I got online from my MacBook and uploaded the photos I took yesterday. The laptop they got for retrocareer is awesome. They also bought her a new WoW account and installed all of the recent patches (and expansion?).

There was some wander-shopping in downtown and chinatown in the afternoon with retrocareer, her friend Ian and omg_teh_funnay.

The morning included a bus trip up from Seatac (the town, not the airport) and some sitting on a peir taking some photos (also uploaded).

I only got ~5 hours of sleep that night too.
omg_teh_funnay put me up at his apartment near the airport after meeting me at said airport and hanging out at Denny's for a while.

Today is ...adventure? during the daylight hours followed by some fish shopping and much homemade sushi with most of the crowd from last night's party. I'll also be making a batch of habanero slarg as part of tonight's dinner.

My doctor's appointment today was quick and simple. My appointment was at 1430. I arrived early, at 1405. A short wait later, they called me in, took my weight and blood pressure (both are going down :) ), and then I met Dr. Reid. I had never met him before, but as I believe discreet_chaos said, he is muppet-like. I got the referral I wanted, so I'll be staying at the Presbyterian Sleep Lab in Albuquerque some night in the next couple of months. I was out the door at 1428, two minutes before my appointment was supposed to begin. Awesome.

Choosing Secure Passwords

Time to junk the Electoral College?
I think the electoral college would be fine if we had a reasonable number of federal representatives (The UK has a ratio of one member of the House of Commons for every ~94,000 citizens; the US one member of the House or Senate for every ~560,000 citizens; the US congress is ~1/6th as representative of US citizens as the US HoC is) and the U.S. President was required to take part in a weekly question time (ala UK House of Commons). Since neither of these conditions are true, there should be more direct democracy in our country. One step in this direction would be direct election of the President instead of using the Electoral College.

And what has been the result of this astonishing performance? Have Kristol's employers fired him for gross incompetence? Has he been exiled from the national media for having been completely wrong, over and over again, about the most important issue facing America today?
Far from it! Kristol has just been hired by Time, America's leading news weekly, to write a column. This is the journalistic equivalent of handing the former captain of the Exxon Valdez a case of whiskey and the command of a fully loaded supertanker.

Fit an NES in an NES controller (click on the photo in the article for more info)

kiwi's steps to successful polyamory, found through royal_spice's linking.

This is a cool, simple game about eating things to grow larger and evolve:
Flow

This Friday, tomorrow, there will not be a movie night here at JPL because there's the Casa Imbri 3.0 housewarming in Albuquerque.

Next Friday, September 22nd, there will be a movie night at JPL.

Friday, September 29th, there will not be a movie night at JPL because of the Flatwarming Party at Forward Observation Post November-One-Three (baronj has a silly name for his abode, don't you think?) in Albuquerque and then king_luddite's gaming night the following evening.

Movie nights should return to normal weekly scheduling for October.

If you are interested in the three parties listed above (the ones not at my house), you should contact their respective hosts about attending. I do not wish to invite anyone to someone else's party out of place. Everyone who reads this (and hasn't been specifically banned) is welcome to attend JPL Movie Nights.

(Photo by justawave01.)
I'm in the yellow shirt getting beat at Guitar Hero by Mike Krahulik at the PAX afterparty.

All of my photos from my trip to WA:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jarrodlombardo/sets/72157594272058689/
Just the PAX photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jarrodlombardo/tags/pax06/

Yesterday I ate some good seafood, but little of it was exceptional. The one that was exceptional was the dungeoness crab cocktail at Anthony's in Kirkland. I spent over two hours in Uncle's Games in the Redmond Town Center talking with the manager and playing some games. I ended up buying 5 new games: Niagra, Giza, Tsuro, Alahambra, and Across The Desert. They all look to be varying levels of awesome.

This morning I woke up at 0430 so I could be on the road by 0500 so I could get to the Anacortes Ferry in time to make the 0740 ferry out to the San Juans. The day is up in the air; I have no particular plans other than to try and see pretty things.

Tomorrow evening I'll be going to see The Illusionist and get dinner with some PAX friends and later go to see Blank and Jones (crazy German DJs) in Seattle.

I'll be back in NM Saturday night.

I'm still in WA, so no photos until I get back to NM. I took a good number of them.

The con was a blur of crowds, queues of people, securing equipment and celebrities from the ravages of said crowds, moving pallets and crates full of gaming merch and displays, and most importantly, doing it all with a great group of staffers. Working with a group of dedicated people to create/enable thousands of people to have a great time is wonderful. The pleasure I get from it is totally worth the expense of flying out here and staying in a hotel for days.

The crew party last night was a lot of fun, with lots of "Guitar Hero" and general fun/silliness. The location was a fall-back to a fall-back to a fall-back to our preferred location since many things went wrong during the party planning, but everything worked out pretty well. Jerry also gave me his old sk2 last night (this post was written on it).

Tonight I should get to see Layla and Dan and maybe others. The rest of the week is up in the air.

I think I didn't post about it before, but there is a movie night tonight. lalabob11 and I are making a vegetable stew. We're using vegetables from radiatorcliffs' mom's garden along with some of my tomatoes and some stuff from the store. I'm going to make corn bread and maybe rice to go along with it.

Does anyone recognise this zombie-killing board game?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lobstar/63396648/

And if you want to know what you can do to help? Don't be terrorized. They terrorize more of us if they kill some of us, but the dead are beside the point. If we give in to fear, the terrorists achieve their goal even if they were arrested. If we refuse to be terrorized, then they lose -- even if their attacks succeed.

"When it comes to terrorism, much of our political leadership appears to have lost both its nerve and its mind."

Regulating Research
http://www.badscience.net/?p=278

GTA: Lego City
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9ShVV8L_o0&NR

Jonas Geirnaert graduation project "FLATLIFE" (2004), selected for Short Films in competition at the Cannes Film Festival 2004.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5377830501271604815

Tonight at gaming it was about 10 p. m. and lalabob11 messaged me:

lalabob11: you got a ride home?
jaberwockynmt: Warren's got me. We aren't done yet though.
lalabob11: ok
jaberwockynmt: A dragon is trying to drown me. He will likely succeed.
lalabob11: suck
jaberwockynmt: Well, he'll likely kill me, but not drown me.
lalabob11: still suck
jaberwockynmt: He's holding me 10 feet deep in a river and biting me be 5 to 10 points a round. I have a magic item that makes it so I can't drown (I always have fresh air to breathe).
jaberwockynmt: I have 17 hit points left.
lalabob11: and no way to escape?
jaberwockynmt: The dragon is much stronger than me. My chance of escaping is about 1 in 20
lalabob11: suck
jaberwockynmt: He might leave me for dead when I go unconsious.
lalabob11: ah
lalabob11: geek:P
jaberwockynmt: I might not bleed to death
lalabob11: these are just fabulous lines coming from my boyfriend
jaberwockynmt: Not bleeding to death is a 1 in 10 chance each round for 14 rounds.
lalabob11: Huge geek
jaberwockynmt: "I'm sure playing dead is not a strenuous action" --Warren.
jaberwockynmt: I'm at -3 hp
jaberwockynmt: If I take any strenuous actions, I go to -4 and unconsious.
lalabob11: heh
jaberwockynmt: I played dead. The dragon let me go. Now I'm at -3 and rushing downstream.
jaberwockynmt: I'm barely consious.
lalabob11: i'm going to bed... good nightiez
jaberwockynmt: Good night.
lalabob11: lalabob11 signed off at 10:57 pm.

I stayed in the water and rushed downstream for a few miles while the other characters did other things, including killing the dragon. We then broke for the night. My character's future will be determined next week.

Wow, there were huge amounts of cheating in the Google DaVinci Code Quest (read the comments). My 41 minutes isn't even close to some of the times cheaters got (<5 minutes) and is double some of the legitimate claims.

Do the English usually pronounce libido with the second 'i' hard [le-BYE-do]? A cover of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit.

( Sexual Style Meme )

A-Kon is in two weeks and the travel plans are pretty well figured out. This year I have a camera, so some of the silly people will have their souls sucked by me. Also my plans for the PAX trip in August are slowly coming together (Yay, I'll get to spend some in-real-life time with ladymarguerite (who's probably going to attend PAX) and the WA people in addition to working the most fun con I've been to).

Does anyone want to go down to El Paso and see Devo on August 17th?

The Optigan is a weird "instrument."

I just did my final 5 puzzles. I took 40 +-1 minutes to complete all 5. The sudoku took the longest (18 +-1 minutes) but wasn't hard. The "restoration" was the hardest, but took less than 10 minutes. The other three were easy. According to the rules, whoever solves the final puzzles fastest wins. I might be in the running for the prize.

I feel tingly now, the way I've felt after taking tests in school in less than half the allotted time. I think I did well but I also think someone with more sudoku experience would have done it faster. The winner is likely to have taken under 30 minutes. Hopefully they post the winner's time once things are over.

There were some catholic protestors outside the theater when we pulled up to buy tickets. I got a photo I'll post later.

Dinner at Johnny Carino's was nice for the six of us (alphamajor, dexander, scoffeepie, sweetanniehi, two_pi_r and me). With cannolis for dessert, I had a Sambvca and espresso. I should get some of each for the house (recipe, bottle and grinds).

We then went over for the movie. Most of the reviews I had read said the movie dragged and had too much exposition. I found it quite good with near constant intrigue punctuated by occasional fight or chase scenes. On the Netflix five point scale, I'll give it a 4. I (and most people, I believe) generally like movies that expouse views similar to my own (their own). The goal of the "Rector" was quite admirable although its achievement was left unclear (and doubtful) in the end.

I don't know what the puzzles will be like tomorrow, but assuming they have to do with the movie, I feel I will do well. I'll probably have a tough time with the chess puzzle, but we'll see. The sudoku-like puzzle (I'm assuming there will be one) will be tough, but doable. I have little idea what the other three will be or what their order will be. In the unlikely chance I win, I know who will share the prizes with me, but there may be an issue of not having enough vacation days to go on all of the trips without pissing off my boss (taking unpaid vacation days irks him greatly, but this is the sort of thing I would do it for).

Next Sunday I'm hosting an Easter dinner at my house. Dinner is at 2. Significant other's, children and friends are welcome. I'll be making hams, kielbasa and cabbage, and a Polish white soup. It would be best if you could bring some food to share with everyone, but it isn't absolutely necessary.

My house is 814 Leroy place. It's just across the street from the south end of Brown Hall. The number is on the wooden fence near the street and also on the mailbox near the front door.

For various reasons, only partly related to plumbing, there will be no movie night this week. Next week is also up in the air. There is a gaming night at king_luddite's this Saturday though, if you still need something social to do this weekend.

The plumbers did a bunch of stuff today. We now have cold water and working drains in the whole house, but hot water nowhere. I'll post more photos tomorrow.

I'm really depressed/moody and I don't know why. I felt pretty good most of the day, but got depressed into the evening. I think it may partly be due to an allergic reaction I seem to be having to something as yet unidentified which makes me break out in a rash every day around 1700 and is gone by morning.

I went to the doctor today. Since my leg is still fine and due to how the doppler ultrasound results were a month ago, we decided that I'm done with coumadin. In a couple of days it'll be ok for me to take the medic alert bracelet off. w00t.

The Dean Gray thing I posted yesterday is up for you to download. I've now heard the whole thing twice and have concluded that it's the best collection of mashups I've heard.

http://www.usenix.org/publications/login/2005-12/openpdfs/geer.pdf
This article wonderfully explains why a monoculture of MS Windows machines is bad for everyone (including Microsoft to a degree) in terms of public health terms. In our current situation, the monoculture is Windows, but it wouldn't be better with a monoculture of some other OS. One aside in the short paper (3pp.) is really interesting to me and I'd like to know more about his data since I've never heard anything quite this extreme before:

My 87-year-old cost accountant father knows this (his estimate is that over half of the productivity gains computers should have brought the domestic economy were lost due to standardization on the Redmond platform).

I sent the author an email asking for more information from his father.

I posted this as a comment somewhere and felt I should share:

"Are You OK?"
When I ask, it's usually because I know the person I'm asking is not. I feel bad when they answer "I'm ok" or similar because that tells me they don't want me to try and help. I feel good when they are honest with me and tell me what's going on so I can try and give an objective opinion and advice which may help them. I understand when someone doesn't want my help though; I usually just don't know that person well enough for there to be a trusting relationship. Forming closer, constructive bonds usually is part of what the person needs to feel better though, so working toward a trusting relationship ends up helping as a side effect without me knowing what exactly was troubling them in the first place.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/43014

Goss lamented the fact that the public will probably never know the particulars of such historic events as the Cold War, the civil-rights movement, or the growth of the international drug trade.
"I'm sure the CIA played major roles in all these things," Goss said. "But now we'll never know for sure."

Porter Goss didn't actually say that, but the quoted passage is no less true.

This video is wonderful (thanks jrigg):
What Is The Internet For?

houdini_cs lent me his video card. It is a GeForce 4 something something. Even though it is below minimum requirements according to the D&D manual, it works great at 1600x1200 "Very High" quality. I've only played for about 20 minutes so far, so I really have no opinion of it so far. I find the play controls awkward, but I think that's just from not having played any computer games in a few years.

I'm more interested in my work lately, which is good.

I have to go deal with Jeff Arbuckle's fucking clearance investigator now. I'm going to be doing the initial prep for my Thanksgiving dinner at the same time, so it won't be too bad, but dealing with them is still always annoying. Also, because Jeff is such a generally useless follower who doesn't think for himself a lot about political things, I can't even answer "yes" for the "Do you think he might support the violent overthrow of the government?" question like I would for most of the people I know who have/want/need clearances. Bleh... annoying disappointment.

( Red States Turning Blue )

Rumsfeld fighting technique:
http://www.poe-news.com/features.php?feat=31845

So, does anyone out there have a GeForce 5200 or higher video card they can loan me? My video card can't handle the D&D Beta. I don't want to have to buy something to try a free game.

The download is ~1.4 GiB. I wasn't expecting it to be that large. That's gonna take a while. I'll get to play it tomorrow after work though.

I also just bought a slightly used Gameboy DS from a friend in WA. Now I need to get Mario Kart. The online play sounds cool.

This may be very interesting. I won't be able to play till tomorrow or Thursday though.

-----Original Message-----
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 22:52:40 -0800

Welcome to the VIP Beta Program for Dungeons & Dragons Online®: Stormreach™!

To begin playing the Beta, follow the link provided at the end of thise-mail and fill out the registration forms. Once you’re registered,simply download and install the game to get started (the download linkis provided at the end of registration).

If you have any problems or questions about your Beta account, please forward them to betasupport@turbine.com

Sincerely,
The Turbine Beta Program Team

Thanksgiving 2005:
You and your families are all invited. Dinner will be at about 5:30 p.m. but the party can begin as early as 2:00 p.m. if people want to show up and hang out. Email thanksgiving@jarrod.spum.us to RSVP and also tell me what you are bringing. It is expected that everyone bring something. As I find out which people are coming and what they are bringing, I will post it here:
http://infohost.nmt.edu/~jarrod/showfile.php?file=thanksgiving.txt

Drug Legalization from a former Seattle Chief of Police:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-legalize16oct16,0,4914395.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

Airport Security Checkpoint:
http://store.playmobilusa.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/PM_DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=CrtrMKaybrhrHuWBCJNnFmiATQTiOJ3inJI=?ProductSKU=3172&CategoryName=Citylife-Flughafen_us&PLS=
http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2005/10/the_airline_scr.html

This song is awesome/wonderfully silly:
http://www.jonathancoulton.com/2005/10/14/thing-a-week-5-baby-got-back/

Since there is no movie night at Casa Imbri tonight, come over to my house (even if you're not a Casa Imbri regular), but not before 6 p.m. I'll make some food, we have a bunch of movies that can be watched, music that can be listened to and games that can be played. Also, I have 2 fudge pies that are chilling in my fridge right now.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gave a speech at the UN a few days ago:
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=45&ItemID=8756

Clinton was unusually critical of Bush:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050918/wl_afp/usweatheriraqeconomy_050918200308

Google Sued (copyright stuff):
http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/003140.shtml

Bruce Schneier on John Roberts and the Supreme Court:
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,68911,00.html

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I want it. I'll probably buy it next month, after I've gotten another paycheck.
I am a big fan, but own almost none of their albums, and none of the ones in this set.
http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=6967364&style=music&cart=273586812

A graph from the Congressional Budget Office:
http://www.livejournal.com/community/neph_politics/206471.html

I think this is the KABX radar:
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=35.149758,-106.824017&spn=0.004900,0.007247&t=h&hl=en

I went camping here for 2 nights in the Summer of 04:
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=68.483924,-149.499807&spn=0.017584,0.056670&t=h&hl=en
There's a cool waterfall (you can't see it in the image) here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=68.461657,-149.271240&spn=0.017602,0.057974&t=h&hl=en

The Next 50 Years Of Computer Security: An Interview with Alan Cox
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2005/09/12/alan-cox.html

The last sentence of the entry is why I posted this link:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/elysesewell/33147.html

Katamari Damacy done in Play-Doh (thanks for linking, nomoremermaids):
http://www.livejournal.com/users/lampbane/311743.html

Whenever I right click in the body of a webpage an Alert box comes up. It has the yellow bang sign on the left. The text is:

@TBEContextMenuService.initItems()
TypeError: nativeMethod.call is not a function

I then hit the OK button and the context menu pos up as usual, with all of its expected menu items. Do any of you know what's going on? I don't know how to trace the error.

I invited a bunch of professors to my graduation party this past May. One of them just replied to the invitation today:

Jarrod,
Thanks for the invitation. Unfortunately, I had earlier commitments
that day.
Sorry for this late response :-(
---s

Over the years, I've sent many letters and emails to my senators and representatives. I also once sent an email to a representative from another state (John Conyers (D-MI)). I've never before gotten a response from a NM offical (Conyers sent a form reply letter, but it did answer my question). I sent an email to both NM senators the other day about my belief that Roberts will be an "activist judge" working to erode civil liberties further. Jeff Bingaman just sent me a form reply letter:
( Bingaman's form letter )

Nintendo is extra weird. It might make playing a FPS not feel boring and tedious to me though.
http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-23521-2567-x-x-x&tag=gs_hp_flashtop_bg

You may have seen this already: "Katrina, The Gathering"
http://onlinegamers.org/ktg/

I have too many damn lj friends and feeds. I have over 1000 posts left to skim/read to catch up from going away this weekend.

I really like my new icon a lot.

Life Content:

I haven't updated about my life recently, so I figured I should.

I'm very happy with most things. Things with lalabob11 are good. We scheduled a trip to NJ in December so I can visit with my family/friends there and also so she can meet them and see cool NYC touristy things. I'm not happy with my job for many reasons, but the insurance and salary are so good that I can't just quit and be happier. I can generally keep myself in the mindset of "work is a thing I do just for money so I can use the money to have fun/be happy."

My leg is doing fine. I have had full use of my leg since about 5 days after I first went to the doctor. Giving myself injections was weird. The last of the bruises from them is almost totally healed. I'll be taking Coumadin (a blood thinner) until at least the end of November though.

I finished the PAX report that Fehlauer asked me to write. He hasn't commented on it yet (he's probably busy doing lots of other things related to his job, such as setting up some of the stuff for this year's Child's Play), but a few of the Enforcers who've read it have. They've been positive. You can read it here: http://infohost.nmt.edu/~jarrod/PAX05.pdf

I'm going to Nan Desu Kon this coming weekend, which should be really fun (since I love working at conventions and I'll get to spend some time with some cool people that I don't get to see very often (e.g. NDK People: Cary, Fred, Guy, Tammy, etc. and also baronj, ladymarguerite and others)).

"Katamari Damacy" is crazy-fun. I just pre-ordered the sequel, "We Love Katamari," which will be released next week. If you haven't played it, the object is to roll a sticky ball around, picking up random crap (like thumbtacks, crackers and strawberries), which makes the ball get bigger, which allows you to pick up bigger random crap (like people, elephants and, eventually, large islands). It is really weird and very fun.

News/Random content:

Computer Security: 6 Dumb Ideas:
http://www.ranum.com/security/computer_security/editorials/dumb/
I especially liked #2 and #5.

An icon I saw:


Crooks and Liars:
Do any of you have trouble viewing movies/posts from http://www.crooksandliars.com and http://movies.crooksandliars.com ? I have had a nearly 100% name lookup failure rate over the course of the last ~4 months from multiple computers (PMC (SDC DNS) and home (Qwest DSL DNS)).

Subaru cat:
http://www.stuffonmycat.com/index.php?itemid=251

You've likely heard this audio sample before:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Apollo_8_genesis_reading.ogg
I've wondered which astronaut said it. Based on this wikipedia entry and the audio files inside, I now know that the first part of the sound file, which has been used as a sample in electronic music many times, is spoken by William Anders. The second and third parts are spoken by Jim Lovell and Frank Borman, respectively.

2nd Amendment:
http://www.reason.com/hod/dk091005.shtml

This is really silly:


"Newsweek Castrates Bush":
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/11/101312/486

Personal observations on the reliability of the Shuttle, by R.P. Feynman
http://www.ranum.com/security/computer_security/editorials/dumb/feynman.html

White House Press Briefing: Angry Reporters Hit McClellan Hard on Hurricane, Ask if Heads Will Roll
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001055403

Why the Federal Government Should Watch PBS
http://www.drinkatwork.com/2005/09/why-federal-government-should-watch.html

I'm about to complete my objective:
http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/002569.html

Baby Hedgehogs for sale in Seattle:
http://animal-talk.com/page49.html

I loved watching this show when I was little ("No Whammies! No Whammies!"):
http://www.rotten.com/library/conspiracy/Press_Your_Luck/

Anti-Anxiety Drugs:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php?date=2005-09-07

At the beginning of the con, the first thing I ended up doing was helping these guys load in. We three rearranged their tables and unpacked all of their boxes. I didn't get any free stuff from them, but, until the con, I'd never watched any of their animations either.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chicazul/38494449/
You may also recognize them from this comic:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php?date=2005-08-30

Combat:
Tycho and the players: http://www.flickr.com/photos/86326874@N00/38177688/
The Atari 7800 connection flaking out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/86326874@N00/38177685/
The final score of the tie breaker round: http://www.flickr.com/photos/86326874@N00/38177680/

An attempt was made for all of the Enforcers to sign a shirt to give to Gabe and Tycho. My name is about 1/4 of the way between the 'P' and the bottom of the shirt.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crankyuser/38172124/

Mike Fehlauer, the "boss" at the con. He is the "Business and Media" director for Penny Arcade.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crankyuser/38171852/

As people who took photos read the PA forums, they should be posting their photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/pax05

( Nerd Test )

Yesterday, PAX closed just after the Omegathon ended. Many of the enforcers stayed and cleaned/loaded stuff till about 2100 when we were told to leave. Those who could, (not me) came back today and finished the load out. The dead dog is tonight. That will be different next year since at least half of the staff can not attend the party this year. The con's management is in a local convention mindset, but running a national con. They now know this and are trying to change over the next year.

I was very disappointed when I found out that the party was going to be on Monday night. A lot of enforcers were. People volunteer because they like to help, but if there were no perks, most wouldn't. The dead dog can be one of the major perks. Its being on Monday this year will somewhat decrease the willingness of some enforcers to volunteer next year. This can be fixed by changing the policy and announcing it as soon as possible.

During last night's load out, I ended up getting 4 free shirts for my effort over the weekend. 3 PAX05 shirts (2 white, 1 black) and one Tycho shirt (black). I had already bought a black PAX05 shirt, so it evened out my collection of PAX05 shirt colors.

When I got back to the hotel, I went to the bar to get some dinner since I hadn't eaten since breakfast. My hotel roommates were going to meet me and have a drink with me. While eating (sea bass wrapped in panchetta over garlic mashed potatos and buttery olive, artichoke garlic hunks), 3 guys who were also at PAX sat near by and we ended up talking. The roommates came down eventually, and joined in the conversation. The bar closed at 2300 and we six went up to the other guys' room and sat around and talked about desiging a new genre of video game till about 0400. I may write some about the conversation later; I took some notes.

This morning, the roommates and I checked out at 1000 and drove my rental car to the airport. We at lunch in the airport food court. I had some scallops and chips and red chowder from Ivers. I've been in airports or airplanes since. My layover in Denver is ~3 hours. I should be back in Socorro at about 2400 MDT.

They opened with Europe's "The Final Countdown" and Gabe and Tycho came out. They then had the last contestants come up to the "Eye of the Tiger".

The finals were a race to to on original Atari Combat. The scores:
15 - 0
5 - 5
7 - 8
12 - 11
In the last match, the score was 10 - 5 and then the blue player came back in the last few seconds, but lost at the last blink. It was really awesome given the huge enerdy in the room.

Then Gabe and Tycho played a round:
Gabe: 5
Tycho: 7

It's pretty cool seeing Atari played on two 15 foot projection screens and hearing the old "music" coming out of a hi quality theatre sytem.

Kara v. Tycho
Kara got ~48,000
Tycho got ~43,000
I'd never heard the song before and don't recall the title, but they were both very good.

Then there was a round of the Omeganaut competition.
The first match was "Someday", a song the loser (and I) had never heard the song before. The score was ~10,000 to ~5,000.
The second was "Careless Whisper," which was the first song I recognized.
It was terrible. The final scores were 6735 and 642. There was huge applause the first time the loser scored, about 80% through the song. He only scored once more.
The third was "Flashdance ...with a feeling". The winner was quite good. ~39,000 to ~11,000.
The fourth and final was "Beat It". ~39,000 to ~16,000

Now there are only 4 people left competing for the gigantic pile of NES stuff.

I now need to go do some work.

Last night was very tiring, and I didn't get off duty till ~0245, but still a good night.

This morning I was supposed to be on duty at 0800 so I was only able to get about 4 hours of sleep, but it was good sleep. I'm just a door guard till 1400, but that's fine; it needs to be done. On my way into the building I ended up helping with entrance line control. While doing this a girl named Kola wanted to draw me. She finished the pencil and is going to ink and scan it and then email me a link. I'll post it whenever I get it.

Doors didn't open until 0920 (they were supposed to open at 0900), so I got to screw around for a while in the con with no attendees. All of the arcade machines are on freeplay, so I got to fail horribly at Guitar Freaks and DDR. I could be better at Guitar Freaks if I played more. The version here (6th mix) has Deep Purple's "Highway Star", which is one of my favorite songs, which was really cool.

I just met the guys who wrote Kingdom of Loathing. They had cool shirts. Mr. Skullhead had Sabertooth Lime shirt (black and white on green cloth) and Jick had the Sword/Martini Adventurer (white on dark grey). They gave me some fake tatoos of icons from the game.

"I'm an asshole. I never actually made any."
-Jick, talking about the participation certificates that were paid for and never received by many players (including me).

A flash game:
http://www.imgag.com/product/full/ap/3067907/graphic1.swf

The game is dumb, but the animations and soundbites are fun.

The only soda I genuinely like the taste of doesn't have very much caffeine compared to the crap the rest of my friends like. Woot.
"It would take 402.86 cans of Royal Crown Cola to put you down."

PAX update:
I just arranged a spot in the Con Hotel for me. There are a bunch of other people in the room, so it'll be relatively cheap. lalabob11 is going to take me to the airport on Thursday. voices_speak is going to pick me up on Monday (hopefully). I'll be in the Redmond/Bellevue area Friday through Monday morning, so I'll be calling the random people up there to possibly go out to dinner one or more of the nights.

Leg update:
More blood tests today. My levels are good and the medication is working. I'm off the injections on Wednesday and staying on the pills for at least 3 months. I have almost full movement, but it is still a little slow. I should be back to normal by Friday if not sooner.

Camp Warwick (Where I went a bunch of times as a counselor during high school):
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=41.220212,-74.384480&spn=0.005336,0.008225&t=h&hl=en
The tiny dot at the center is the lump of rock on the top of the mountain (technically a tor that is hiked as one of the activities. The camp itself is the clump of 6 buildings to the northwest.

lamasong called herself a "l33t 0xC0DEBABE"

Does anyone know a way to make it so firefox/mozilla will NEVER open another window when a link is clicked? If I left click a link, I always want it to open in the current tab. If I middle click a link, I always want it to open in a new tab. I don't want any of this new window bullshit unless I ask for it from the context menu.

I need rides to and fro the Albuquerque airport (I'm going to the PennyArcade eXpo). Who can give me a ride? I will reimburse for gas, of course.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Frontier Airlines # 4334
Albuquerque International (ABQ) to Denver International (DEN)
Departure (ABQ): August 25, 7:25 PM MDT (evening)
Arrival (DEN): August 25, 8:35 PM MDT (evening)

Frontier Airlines # 837
Denver International (DEN) to Seattle/Tacoma Intl (SEA)
Departure (DEN): August 25, 9:05 PM MDT (evening)
Arrival (SEA): August 25, 10:55 PM PDT (evening)

--------------------------------

Monday, August 29, 2005

Frontier Airlines # 834
Seattle/Tacoma Intl (SEA) to Denver International (DEN)
Departure (SEA): August 29, 2:40 PM PDT (afternoon)
Arrival (DEN): August 29, 6:10 PM MDT (evening)

Frontier Airlines # 4335
Denver International (DEN) to Albuquerque International (ABQ)
Departure (DEN): August 29, 9:20 PM MDT (evening)
Arrival (ABQ): August 29, 10:30 PM MDT (evening)

Randy ('G') usually games (a pen and paper rpg) at his house on Saturdays. This evening, a bunch of the players can't come, so he's decided that he wants to have a board gaming night tonight. Go down to his house (Casa Imbri) in the evening and we'll all play some games.

Also, as a reminder, we're holding a board gaming party next Saturday, August 20 at my house. We will provide food and drinks, but we ask that you bring something if you can.

A bunch of people including alphamajor, futonsulo, two_pi_r, lalabob11 and myself are going to the 9:10 p. m. showing at the Loma. Afterward we are going to go back to my house and generally hang out. This will likely include some gaming. Come and meet us for the movie or at the house later if you'd like.

Saturday, August 20th there will be a gaming night at my house. There are already a bunch of people coming in from out of town (John B.'s mother, brother and sister), but I'm pretty sure there will be at least one available couch to sleep on. You should come, bringing some foods and/or drinks if you'd like. I'll probably make a big pot of something or other and John'll likely provide some foods and drinks too.

The same day (scheduling for both parties was out of my hands), voices_speak is having a party at her house. I know none of the details. I plan on stopping by at her party for a while even though there is stuff going on at my house.

Another link about secure parenting:
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/08/technological_p.html

This guy is a pretty good HardNRG DJ and he has mixes for download on his site:
http://defunkt.net/

A history of the middle east for the past ~25 years:
http://www.juancole.com/2005/08/fisking-war-on-terror-once-upon-time.html

( Political belief meme )

Some interesting stuff about how people act in groups:
http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/sunstein.shtml

Video games won't make you a killer or a sex fiend (those of us who aren't ignorant already know that though):
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html
http://www.redassedbaboon.com/forum/showthread.php?t=204 (an especially well-written thread starts with #4)

I'm not exactly surprised by the results, but I feel I'm more like a dwarf than a gnome.

I Am A: Lawful Neutral Gnome Ranger Fighter
( DnD Character Meme Details )

Baconated

Badonkadonk

Band wasn't that great, but the dj after was fun though bad at segues. He played 3 songs that stand out: an industrial version of "Funny Farm" (They're coming to take me away! Haha!) which was really weird and silly but not fast enough, a very fast Juno Reactor wannabe jungle song that was really fun to dance to and 50 Cent's "In Da Club" vocal over NIN's "Closer" music that worked surprisingly well. Also, the second or third song he played was off the nev VNV album (I recognized it from the concert ~6 weeks ago).

After, we went to Denny's. I ended up sitting in one side of the booth between ridingstar and voices_speak, which was not a bad situation. Across was sacra_imbri, ravendisplayed and rylasedai with her bf Jesse sitting in a chair at the end of the booth. Various silly discussion ensued, including my summarizing the entire Harvey Birdman episode where Indian Chief can no longer "grow larger" and sacra_imbri talking about an epic battle with a giant roach when she was 12.

At one point, I dipped my fingertip in voices_speak's shake's whipped cream and then placed a dollop of it on the tip of her nose. Everyone laughed a bunch, but voices_speak lost it and just couldn't stop laughing long enough to lick it off (she has a long, articulate tongue).

Also, at some point while there, rylasedai was held in the middle of the Denny's dining room and given 21 birthday spanks by some Albuquerque friends while the whole restaurant watched. She yelped at least once and squeaked for many hits. Her face turned the same color as her maroon pants.

While playing Power Grid last night we got into an argument about the rules. I went one way and all the other people went the other way. I looked it up this morning and found that the people on the Rules Questions forum at boardgamegeek.com agree with me (see links below), but to be sure of the rules I sent an email off to Rio Grande Games asking for a rules clarification:

Subject: Power Grid Rules Question: When does Step 2 begin?

I have seen forum people ask my question and the other forum people agree with me (Step 2 starts at the end of Phase 4, before Phase 5), but since the forum people aren't officials at Rio Grande, I doubt the people I play with will accept that I'm right (they all think that Step 2 starts in the middle of Phase 4).

Does Step 2 start in the middle of Phase 4 or at the end of Phase 4? In future printings of the rules, you should make the wording more clear.

Here are forum posts I've found related to my question:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geekforum.php3?action=viewthread&threadid=26996
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geekforum.php3?action=viewthread&threadid=58410
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geekforum.php3?action=viewthread&threadid=64861

--
Thank You,
Jarrod Lombardo

Update: There is an online version of the game (that is licensed from the maker) here: http://www.brettspielwelt.info/rules/Funkenschlag/
In the online rules:

Funkenschlag is played over 3 Stages. At the beginning we are in Stage 1. In each city, only only one house may be built. As soon as a player connects 7 cities (with 2 players: 10; 6 players: Stage 2 begins the next round). Then each city mya have 2 houses. At the start of the game, a Stage 3 card is at the bottom of the power plant deck. Once that card is drawn, Stage 3 begins on the next phase. Once stage 3 begins, 3 houses are allowed per city and during the power plant auction, the bottom row are also available.

Another Update: Jay from Rio Grande got back to me:

In a message dated 6/26/05 1:05:14 PM, Jarrod Lombardo writes:
>Does Step 2 start in the middle of Phase 4 or at the end of Phase 4?

Actually, neither: it is before step 5:

I am curious, what is confusing about, "Step 2 starts before phase 5 after the first player has connected his 7th city during phase 4."

Thanks.

Jay M Tummelson
Rio Grande Games
www.riograndegames.com
PO Box 45715
Rio Rancho, NM 87174

and then I replied to him:

They all think it becomes step 2 "during phase 4" because all of phase 4 is "before phase 5". The way they play is they start allowing people to build a second connection in a city immediately upon someone building a 7th connection. The person who built the 7th connection can even choose to build his 8th as a second connection to a city in the same building phase with their interpretation. Clearer wording would be "Step 2 starts between phase 4 and phase 5 after the first player has connected his 7th city during phase 4."

I was generally usless all afternoon. At 1730 lalabob11 picked me up and we went up to Leah Dale's going away party. She's going to Mauritania for 27 months with the Peace Corps. She's going to be blogging while she's there (she's doing small business assistance, so she'll have internet access at least once a month), but she doesn't know what system she'll use. I think I sold her on LJ though, since it is so simple to use and I'm the first person she's asked who had an opinion. The party wasn't as good as I'd hoped, but it was nice seeing her before she left.

We got back to Socorro right at about 2400. lalabob11 went home because she was sleepy. I stayed at my house and was able to play 2 games of Power Grid. Now I'm tired and going to bed.

Sunday afternoon sometime I'm going to be watching Get Carter at least once. I may go to the anime meeting, I may not. Poke me if you like.

I forgot to post this earlier. We are having a gaming night at my house tonight, Saturday. Come by and play some board games. Things will probably get started around 1900.

List your 6 current favorite songs and then tag 6 other people.
Tagged by capricia (you suck btw)

Songs:
1. Jem - Stay Now
2. Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
3. Emerson, Lake and Palmer - Still You Turn Me on
4. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - The Message
5. Underworld - Bruce Lee ("Blue Mountain" Live Version)
6. Dream Theater - A Change Of Seasons (live)

People bring tagged:
1. aisa0
2. dexander
3. mimetec
4. spankgirl
5. stubberella
6. vvanderer

Non-meme, non-uselessness:
I got confirmation from the PAX people about staff. I'm in. They don't know where to put me based on my skill set, but they like it. I need to figure out plane flights. I should buy my tickets as soon as possible so as to save maybe a tiny amount of money. The primary hotel is full (The hotel says so online). The secondary (which is actually closer to the convention center, but a few dollars more) may or may not be. They don't seem to have a website where you can check if the convention block is full or not. If lamasong is still living in Redmond then (August 26-28), it is probably cheaper for me to rent a car and stay with her (Can I?). I don't know what I'm doing yet.

Tonight there will be some general hanging out followed by "When Harry Met Sally" at 9:00 p.m. at ridingstar's house. If you are a friend of hers, I'm pretty sure you're welcome to attend.