A planet where apes evolved from MAN?!?

The Xbox 360

OK, so alot has already been written about the new Xbox 360. But treading worn ground has never really stopped me before...

   So, back in September, I went on-line and decided I was going to get in at the begining for once (my previous console, an Xbox, was only bought last Christmas season). I checked the different reputable vendors, and decided to go with Walmart. For price and service, they had about the best deal going, in my opinion.
   Anyway, I ordered the deluxe package, with 2 wireless controllers, the hard drive, etc, as well as Quake 4, Madden 06 and the latest Tom Clancy.
   The system arrived on the Tuesday before Turkey Day. All well and good, but.... none of the games arrived.
   I set up the system, in place of the old unit, inside my AV cabinet. Lesson 1 was learned: The 360 runs hot. When I opened the glass doors on the cabinet after it was running for about 15 minutes, it was like a furnace in there. Before any problems could arise, I took the unit out and placed it on top of the cabinet next to the TV with about 4 inches between them. With its fans running, it can sound loud (witht the TV or stereo running, don't notice, but without them it is very distracting), but standing up and with plenty of air around it, it is cool to the touch.
   There I was, with the new system, and no games... but it is supposed to work with many of the old games, right? Not really. I tried a few games, notably my favorite fighting game, Godzilla. No luck. I tried a few more, still no luck. So I put in Halo 2, thinking its a flag ship game for the Xbox, and sure enough it works. I still have to go through my small collection of Xbox games to determine what works, and what doesn't. In theory, some games will work with a downloaded patch.
   Finally, on Friday, two games arrived: Quake 4 and Madden 06. Quake is good, but it is a straight port from the PC platform. Madden, on the ohter hand, shines. I've read a number of mixed reviews, where people don't like the new commentary. Personally, I like the change, giving it a radio feel, rather than TV. I often listen to the NFL games while I do other things, rather than watch, so for me it is something I am accustomed to, since I only watch one or two games a week anyway. Others have complained that the game doesn't have as many under the hood options, like franchise options and such. Again, for my tastes, I don't miss them. I am not a fantasy football type guy. I like to fire up the game, play it for a while to kill time or work off some stress, and to have something to keep company entertained with. On a side note, using Madden, without the TO bullshit or injured prima-donna quarter back, my electronic Eagles are 2 games into the playoffs ;)
   Now, there are some non-game reason that have made me decide the 360 is a winner. I can now connect the unit, via ethernet or WLAN to the rest of my network. I can use the unit to play music, video or slide shows from the other computers in the house. This means that my Media Center laptop that doubles as the upstairs TV and DVR can transmit recordings to the downstairs TV that hosts the 360. While my TiVo can also do some of this, the Xbox makes it easy to use, and has a nice inteface, that I think most people could use. I can control it via the game paddles, the remote that came with it, or via my Harmony remote control.
   Speaking of the controls... I really like the big X button on each controller. It allows you to access the console features from anywhere you may be in the system. It also indicates which controller you are assigned to (1-4). If the Xbox is off, and you press the X button, the wireless controller will turn on the Xbox for you. I like that. The power button on the unit also indicates which controller channels are active. Sometimes it is the little things that make tech fun.
   Anyway, I think MS has really advance the console concept with this product. It can play and store video and music files. It is a DVD player. It can become your media hub, if you have other PCs on the network. I am half expecting a keyboard to come out soon, so you can surf the web and send email from the unit as well. All in all, I think the unit is a winner. I don't think I will sell it on Ebay after all :)

[Listening to: Rain (Falling From The Skies) - Frank Sinatra - The Complete Capitol Singles Collection (Disc 1) (03:25)]

Serenity

Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand...

OK, as you may know, the producers of Serenity have offered bloggers a free showing of the movie before next weeks opening.  And I just got my confirmation that I am on the list.  I am as happy as an Alaskan politician with highway pork.

As something of a Browncoat, I am very happy that this film has been made.  The show (Firefly) was some of the best science fiction to ever hit the small screen.  Great charaterization, snappy dialogue and the inclussion of the occasional message/moral without the preachiness of other shows (see Star Trek post GR).  Until the new Battlestar Galactica came out, it was without equal in sci-fi TV, surpassing Babylon 5 and all of the Star Treks and the brit shows like Blakes 7 and Doctor Who.  And I think BSG owes Firelfy a big debt in the visuals department, for the "shakey" camera CGI visuals.  You know, that hand held, on the fly look, like you are watching the action from another ship or via a onsite reporter in the thick of the action.

Some ad copy (so I can get into the screening :) )

Joss Whedon, the Oscar® - and Emmy - nominated writer/director responsible for the worldwide television phenomena of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE, ANGEL and FIREFLY, now applies his trademark compassion and wit to a small band of galactic outcasts 500 years in the future in his feature film directorial debut, Serenity. The film centers around Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family –squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal.

Nerdy, so nerdy

06:14 PM in Nerd Out! | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

School, work, life, all conspire to eat my time.  But I saw Episode 3 today.  And follow the link... HAH.
Dork Tower

OK, so here's a short update on what's going on around here.

The Pope.  Cardinal Ratzinger wasn't my first choice.  But I think he will be a worthy successor of John Paul II.  I am glad that the conclave did not yield to the whining and pining of the progressive minority.  And I do mean minority.  Even in America, progressive Catholics are far from being the mainstream norm.
Personally, while I would like for priests and deacons to have more freedom to marry (and don't see Benedict XVI endorsing that), I am mostly happy with what I have seen of the new Holy Father.

I have some friends and coworkers who are quite upset with this new Pope.  But they were also despondent that President Bush won a second term... and angry with the red state troglodytes that voted for him.  These are folks that want women clergy, Church approved artificial contraception/abortion/cloning, easier divorce etc.  And every time these things come up, I ask, "so why are your still Catholic?".  Nearly every time, they answer with something like "I shouldn't have to leave the Church if I disagree.  The Church needs to get into the modern age".
To me, this is massive egotism on their part.  The Church is millennia old.  It has over 1 billion adherents.  It changes very, very slowly.  And they expect this organization to change to their worldview, overnight?  I am sorry, but there is a reason that Christianity has more flavors than Baskin Robbins.  There are plenty of other Churches that would better suit your world view and politics than the Catholic Church.
That is not to say that there is no place for dissent in the Church.  But let's be realistic.  When you disagree on abortion, gay marriage, divorce, clerical marriage/gender, euthanasia etc, maybe it's time to move on.  I don't agree with the Church on everything.  Far from it.  And when an honest opportunity to debate those differences arises, I gladly discuss my point of view with other Catholics.  But do I think the Church has any obligation to change itself to suit MY conception of how it ought to be?  No.  If I disagreed with the Church that much, I'd leave.  When I was a younger man, I did just that.
This also applies to the media pundits and the lefty blogosphere that are gnashing their teeth over "this missed opportunity" for a progressive change... Here are my questions to these folks:  Are you Catholic?  and, If these changes were implemented, would you either be a happy Catholic, or become a Catholic?
If the answer both of these questions is no, then I would politely suggest you mind your own business.  Honestly why should we care what a non-Catholic, who has no intention of considering being one, thinks about the Church?  Why do you think the Church should think your opinion has any merit?  Especially when your opinions on hot button issues are polar opposite of the Church's?
Now, if you answered yes to one of these questions, I'll point you to the Unitarians, or the Episcopal churches.  They'll be happy to have you.  Meaning, if you are a Catholic (or looking into it, but have issues with the menu) that will only be happy with gay marriage, abortion etc, it is time for you to move on, and find a spiritual home that will let you sleep soundly.  The Church will either wither or thrive without you.  But life is too short to spend so much time and energy trying to make a dog into cat.
And finally, if you answered yes to both... I would counsel you to do some soul searching.  If you can truly only be happy if said changes are made, then it's time to move on.  See the above paragraph.  Plenty of churches will take you in.  Or found your own.  But the Church is not a place of fads and changes for the sake of change.  And I for one, in the ever changing world we live in, enjoy the fact that the Church is what it is.
Anyway, that's enough about that.

In other news, delivered to my desk today... 5 brand new Darth Taters.  No, not all of them are mine.  I ordered for the office.
So now, atop my cubicle, I have Yoda (and his collection of business trip shot glasses), Lord Tater and mighty Cthulhu.  In the picture, however, Cthulhu isn't wearing his "Cat in the Hat".  He's trying to look respectable for his new roommate.

In life:  Got my grade for the final math class today.  An A.  Which surprised me.  While the class took some effort and time (no math wiz I), I also wasn't pushing myself for extra points.  A passing grade, so I would get reimbursed by the employer was my only goal.  But now, I am free to finish off my 400 level courses.  Most of them, I already 'do' as part of my professional life.  So while I am sure I will learn something, nothing they will cover will be all that new to me.  I don't say this to stroke my ego.  But after 10 years as a full time IT worker, how much can I learn from a 5 week boot-camp style course?  If anything, I expect to get a good idea of where I really am in some of the subjects.  I am self taught, in all things computers, and have shown that I am taught quite well in some areas.  But there is always that niggling doubt, wondering what I might be missing.  What fundamental might I have neglected that would revolutionize my understanding or implementation of a given skill.  I may learn a lot, or like a previous IT course, I may be teaching the professor a few lessons.  We shall see.

The weekend: have a date with the nursing student.  Oddly enough, I am attracting people in the medical field this year.  Doctors, nurses, hospital admins, and students aspiring to be the above.  Not sure what we are doing.  If the weather behaves, we'll go catch a Trenton Thunder game.  If not, dinner at Mastori's or a movie, something.  We've both been too busy to obsess over details.  Friday is the deadline to get our asses in gear and decide about Saturday.  And Friday I may have a date with the hospital gal.  Again, we shall see.

Did I mention I got a Darth Tater today?

UPDATE: Check out The Anchoress.  As usual, she covers this better than I or 90% of the blogosphere could.

I don’t know what they actually expected. It has always seemed very odd to me that people would think the Catholic church will suddenly put a finger to the chin and say, “you know, we’ve been all wrong about this stuff, all this time! Abortion is okay! Jesus didn’t really mean it about divorce! That whole thing about marriage being between a man and a woman, why that was just written in by some homophobe or other!”

Update 2:

I noticed this listening to the radio last night, while walking the dogs (and smoking a nice, nice cigar):  What is with the people, so far non-Catholics mostly, that are out there complaining that Benedict XVI wasn't in the Resistance, fighting the Nazis.  To them, that he didn't fight against Hitler disqualifies him from any office in the Church.

News flash, moonbats:  He was a child.  How many pubescent resistance members were there in WW2?  Or any war for that matter?  When he was drafted into an AA unit, he deserted.  And when the Allies showed up at his doorstep, and learned he had been in the German Army, he went to a POW camp.
Ug.  I don't even want to discuss the Ass-hattery of Eric Mueller and his ilk.   What great causes were they putting their lives on the line for at age 14?  By their standards, only Jesus Christ himself might have a chance at qualifying as Pope.  And I am sure Prof. Mueller would find a way to cast aspersions on Him, as well.
And why do moral relativists always become moral absolutists, with no room for doubt or human growth, when discussing people like the Pope?  They give a pass to Castro, Robert Byrd, Ward Churchill, John Kerry, Teddy Kennedy et al, for their voluntary actions as adults, but they can't overlook the compelled actions of a bloody child?

And all around cool guy.

John Scalzi.

Nifty blog he has, http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/

Go check it out.

Macophiles, drool over his new box.

Penguin heads, feel free to shrug.

And check out his new book, Old Man's War.  It is quite good. (I'm all ready for the sequel)

And if you have a guy or gal in uniform, they can get a free electronic copy from John.  See his blog for details. (and send requests from .mil addys, if you would)

OK.
I just got my Vonage adaptor.  Actually, it's a 4 port router with 2 phone jacks.  Plugged my trusty Uniden phone into it.
It took a bit of time to set up, since I had to make it talk with my existing router and firewall.
So far, so good.  I've made a few calls, most didn't notice a thing.  My mother thought I was on a speaker phone.  I'm going to have to hook it up to a corded phone for a better test.
But the voice mail... I love that I can have an wav file of messages sent to my email account.  Or just a messages that there is a message.  It's cool regardless.
And the fact that caller ID, Call forwarding, call waiting, voicemail etc, along with 500 minutes of FREE long distance are included for less than Verizon was charging me for a vanilla phone connection, with no options.
More to come.

I have a limited number of gmail invites.  Any takers?  Send me a message at the "email me" link in the far right column..
First come, first serve.

Link: CNN.com - Darth Tater: The dark side of Mr. Potato Head - Jan 19, 2005.

A spud on the dark side. That's how toy maker Hasbro Inc. is promoting its latest Mr. Potato Head figure, Darth Tater.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=16545

Chomsky: Notice too that the "war" being waged here is, evidently, in the land of Mordor itself — at the very base of Mount Doom. These terrible armies of Sauron, these dreadful demonized Orcs, have not proved very successful at conquering the neighboring realms — if that is even what Sauron was seeking to do. It seems fairly far-fetched.

This sounds like them, if only better reasoned...

Still no time to blog, but.... HAH

School, work, life, all conspire to eat my time.  But I saw Episode 3 today.  And follow the link... HAH.
Dork Tower

Life, the Pope, Lord Tater.

OK, so here's a short update on what's going on around here.

The Pope.  Cardinal Ratzinger wasn't my first choice.  But I think he will be a worthy successor of John Paul II.  I am glad that the conclave did not yield to the whining and pining of the progressive minority.  And I do mean minority.  Even in America, progressive Catholics are far from being the mainstream norm.
Personally, while I would like for priests and deacons to have more freedom to marry (and don't see Benedict XVI endorsing that), I am mostly happy with what I have seen of the new Holy Father.

I have some friends and coworkers who are quite upset with this new Pope.  But they were also despondent that President Bush won a second term... and angry with the red state troglodytes that voted for him.  These are folks that want women clergy, Church approved artificial contraception/abortion/cloning, easier divorce etc.  And every time these things come up, I ask, "so why are your still Catholic?".  Nearly every time, they answer with something like "I shouldn't have to leave the Church if I disagree.  The Church needs to get into the modern age".
To me, this is massive egotism on their part.  The Church is millennia old.  It has over 1 billion adherents.  It changes very, very slowly.  And they expect this organization to change to their worldview, overnight?  I am sorry, but there is a reason that Christianity has more flavors than Baskin Robbins.  There are plenty of other Churches that would better suit your world view and politics than the Catholic Church.
That is not to say that there is no place for dissent in the Church.  But let's be realistic.  When you disagree on abortion, gay marriage, divorce, clerical marriage/gender, euthanasia etc, maybe it's time to move on.  I don't agree with the Church on everything.  Far from it.  And when an honest opportunity to debate those differences arises, I gladly discuss my point of view with other Catholics.  But do I think the Church has any obligation to change itself to suit MY conception of how it ought to be?  No.  If I disagreed with the Church that much, I'd leave.  When I was a younger man, I did just that.
This also applies to the media pundits and the lefty blogosphere that are gnashing their teeth over "this missed opportunity" for a progressive change... Here are my questions to these folks:  Are you Catholic?  and, If these changes were implemented, would you either be a happy Catholic, or become a Catholic?
If the answer both of these questions is no, then I would politely suggest you mind your own business.  Honestly why should we care what a non-Catholic, who has no intention of considering being one, thinks about the Church?  Why do you think the Church should think your opinion has any merit?  Especially when your opinions on hot button issues are polar opposite of the Church's?
Now, if you answered yes to one of these questions, I'll point you to the Unitarians, or the Episcopal churches.  They'll be happy to have you.  Meaning, if you are a Catholic (or looking into it, but have issues with the menu) that will only be happy with gay marriage, abortion etc, it is time for you to move on, and find a spiritual home that will let you sleep soundly.  The Church will either wither or thrive without you.  But life is too short to spend so much time and energy trying to make a dog into cat.
And finally, if you answered yes to both... I would counsel you to do some soul searching.  If you can truly only be happy if said changes are made, then it's time to move on.  See the above paragraph.  Plenty of churches will take you in.  Or found your own.  But the Church is not a place of fads and changes for the sake of change.  And I for one, in the ever changing world we live in, enjoy the fact that the Church is what it is.
Anyway, that's enough about that.

In other news, delivered to my desk today... 5 brand new Darth Taters.  No, not all of them are mine.  I ordered for the office.
So now, atop my cubicle, I have Yoda (and his collection of business trip shot glasses), Lord Tater and mighty Cthulhu.  In the picture, however, Cthulhu isn't wearing his "Cat in the Hat".  He's trying to look respectable for his new roommate.

In life:  Got my grade for the final math class today.  An A.  Which surprised me.  While the class took some effort and time (no math wiz I), I also wasn't pushing myself for extra points.  A passing grade, so I would get reimbursed by the employer was my only goal.  But now, I am free to finish off my 400 level courses.  Most of them, I already 'do' as part of my professional life.  So while I am sure I will learn something, nothing they will cover will be all that new to me.  I don't say this to stroke my ego.  But after 10 years as a full time IT worker, how much can I learn from a 5 week boot-camp style course?  If anything, I expect to get a good idea of where I really am in some of the subjects.  I am self taught, in all things computers, and have shown that I am taught quite well in some areas.  But there is always that niggling doubt, wondering what I might be missing.  What fundamental might I have neglected that would revolutionize my understanding or implementation of a given skill.  I may learn a lot, or like a previous IT course, I may be teaching the professor a few lessons.  We shall see.

The weekend: have a date with the nursing student.  Oddly enough, I am attracting people in the medical field this year.  Doctors, nurses, hospital admins, and students aspiring to be the above.  Not sure what we are doing.  If the weather behaves, we'll go catch a Trenton Thunder game.  If not, dinner at Mastori's or a movie, something.  We've both been too busy to obsess over details.  Friday is the deadline to get our asses in gear and decide about Saturday.  And Friday I may have a date with the hospital gal.  Again, we shall see.

Did I mention I got a Darth Tater today?

UPDATE: Check out The Anchoress.  As usual, she covers this better than I or 90% of the blogosphere could.

I don’t know what they actually expected. It has always seemed very odd to me that people would think the Catholic church will suddenly put a finger to the chin and say, “you know, we’ve been all wrong about this stuff, all this time! Abortion is okay! Jesus didn’t really mean it about divorce! That whole thing about marriage being between a man and a woman, why that was just written in by some homophobe or other!”

Update 2:

I noticed this listening to the radio last night, while walking the dogs (and smoking a nice, nice cigar):  What is with the people, so far non-Catholics mostly, that are out there complaining that Benedict XVI wasn't in the Resistance, fighting the Nazis.  To them, that he didn't fight against Hitler disqualifies him from any office in the Church.

News flash, moonbats:  He was a child.  How many pubescent resistance members were there in WW2?  Or any war for that matter?  When he was drafted into an AA unit, he deserted.  And when the Allies showed up at his doorstep, and learned he had been in the German Army, he went to a POW camp.
Ug.  I don't even want to discuss the Ass-hattery of Eric Mueller and his ilk.   What great causes were they putting their lives on the line for at age 14?  By their standards, only Jesus Christ himself might have a chance at qualifying as Pope.  And I am sure Prof. Mueller would find a way to cast aspersions on Him, as well.
And why do moral relativists always become moral absolutists, with no room for doubt or human growth, when discussing people like the Pope?  They give a pass to Castro, Robert Byrd, Ward Churchill, John Kerry, Teddy Kennedy et al, for their voluntary actions as adults, but they can't overlook the compelled actions of a bloody child?

Gentleman, Author, Blogger

And all around cool guy.

John Scalzi.

Nifty blog he has, http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/

Go check it out.

Macophiles, drool over his new box.

Penguin heads, feel free to shrug.

And check out his new book, Old Man's War.  It is quite good. (I'm all ready for the sequel)

And if you have a guy or gal in uniform, they can get a free electronic copy from John.  See his blog for details. (and send requests from .mil addys, if you would)

Vonage

OK.
I just got my Vonage adaptor.  Actually, it's a 4 port router with 2 phone jacks.  Plugged my trusty Uniden phone into it.
It took a bit of time to set up, since I had to make it talk with my existing router and firewall.
So far, so good.  I've made a few calls, most didn't notice a thing.  My mother thought I was on a speaker phone.  I'm going to have to hook it up to a corded phone for a better test.
But the voice mail... I love that I can have an wav file of messages sent to my email account.  Or just a messages that there is a message.  It's cool regardless.
And the fact that caller ID, Call forwarding, call waiting, voicemail etc, along with 500 minutes of FREE long distance are included for less than Verizon was charging me for a vanilla phone connection, with no options.
More to come.

Gmail

I have a limited number of gmail invites.  Any takers?  Send me a message at the "email me" link in the far right column..
First come, first serve.

Give yourself to the dork side

Link: CNN.com - Darth Tater: The dark side of Mr. Potato Head - Jan 19, 2005.

A spud on the dark side. That's how toy maker Hasbro Inc. is promoting its latest Mr. Potato Head figure, Darth Tater.

If Zinn and Chomsky went to the movies...

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=16545

Chomsky: Notice too that the "war" being waged here is, evidently, in the land of Mordor itself — at the very base of Mount Doom. These terrible armies of Sauron, these dreadful demonized Orcs, have not proved very successful at conquering the neighboring realms — if that is even what Sauron was seeking to do. It seems fairly far-fetched.

This sounds like them, if only better reasoned...