Legion's Rants

64-bit Windows Not Quite Ready for Prime-time

I recently built a new main system. It is really nice with a quad-core processor, 4GB of RAM and two top-of-the-line video cards to enable me to drive three monitors. After reading an article on one of my favorite blogs, Coding Horror, about 64-bit Windows and being encouraged by my friend, Punish, I decided to give it a shot. Everything seemed great and the only problems I had were ones that I was convinced were your typical problems with a new setup and I would take care of them soon enough. Until I decided to try out the new Windows Home Server.

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As for the Home Server, I can't say enough good things about it. I'll probably have a whole separate post about it, but suffice it to say that with completely automated enterprise-grade backups, every home that relies on its computer for more than just web browsing and email should have one. I've only had the thing for a few days and already there have been multiple "No really, it was that easy," moments.

The one drawback to Home Server is that it won't do its backup and integration magic on a machine running a 64-bit OS. I don't know why that is and I haven't seen any announcement on when that will change, but I have to assume that it will. But, for now, my choice was to not use my shiny new toy or give up a gigabyte of RAM on my new box. Those of you that know me know that I can't pass up a new toy ...

So I spent last Saturday completely rebuilding my new box with 32-bit Vista and that's where those other niggling problems just disappeared. I had a problem where I couldn't use my HP LaserJet printer from across the network, it had to be local. I had a problem when playing World of Warcraft where the video driver would reset (causing a very annoying fifteen second pause each time) several times an hour and sometimes lock up the system completely. All of that and some other little problems went away when I changed back to 32-bit. And I could use my new toy, yay!

Honestly, I'm looking forward to when I can get my gigabyte of RAM back. But as I get older, my computer is more and more for getting things done and less and less for just seeing if I can do various things. And 64-bit was keeping me from getting things done.

See This? This is Sand!

I was reading an article this morning about people who work at Disneyland, but don't make enough money to afford a decent place to live. It said that some of them live in two bedroom apartments that cost in the neighborhood of fifteen-hundred dollars a month ... so they have to pack in three, four, even eight people into these apartments or motel rooms. The article was advocating that Disney should assist with various efforts to create low-income housing near the park.

As I was reading it, all I could think of was the late, great Sam Kinison ...

]]> Kinison had a skit where he talked about seeing a commercial advertising ways to help the hungry in Africa or some such. He pointed out that the aid organizations were doing it all wrong. What they should be doing instead of shipping these starving people food is that they should be giving them a few hundred dollars and a U-Haul so that they can move someplace where there is food. The punchline was, "See this? This is sand! Nothing grows here. Nothing's ever going to grow here!"

And really, the Disney thing is the same situation. We shouldn't be making low-income housing so that people can continue to live in abject poverty in a hugely over-priced area. We should be giving these people opportunities to move someplace where they can make a living wage with their current skills. Or help them learn new skills so they can make a wage where they can afford to live in the area they want to live in. And if enough people see the situation for what it is and refuse to be treated in this way, then something will happen. Either Disney will have to start paying more for people to work there ... or housing prices will go down in the area because nobody wants to live in a place like that. Either way ... problem solved!

Update: Here's a YouTube link to the skit.

World of Warcraft Burning Crusade Expansion

So yeah, I'm a geek. I pre-ordered the Burning Crusade expansion and then attended the midnight event so I could be one of the first to walk around in the new areas post-launch. (Which, if my gaming habit were completely rational, I would admit to myself that at the very least people on the East Coast would get in three hours ahead of me ... not to mention others outside the US. Time-zone-wise, California is on the ass-end of the world.)

]]> But time zones aside, I got my copy and greedily brought it home to consume new content, glorious content. I had been wanting to play a Shaman since beta, but my friends conspired against me by choosing to play the Alliance side. With the new expansion, my dream can be fulfilled! I immediately started Pavlovian reactions as I opened the box to find four ... count them ... four CDs. Holy geez! Ok ... don't panic ... we'll just install them and then get in the game!

...

Yeah well, so after I install the four CDs, it turns out that the patch that I made sure I downloaded and installed before I left for the midnight event ... had to be downloaded and installed again. (Well, it only needed to be installed ... the downloading was lickety-split because it was still on my hard drive.) Oh ... and then, there was anoter little patch that needed to be downloaded and installed. Gah! Fine ... ok ... breathe. Just get it done.

Ok ... now we can play, right? Yes! So I am now the proud owner of a 7^th level Draenai Shaman with Jewelcrafting as his tradeskill. Ugh ... four hours of sleep and now I've got work and after-work things to do tonight. This is going to hurt ...

E3 Pics Are Finally Up

I know the vast Internet has been waiting patiently for me to put up my E3 pictures ...

]]> ... so here they are.

Of course, the highlight of the show was a piece I have entitled Gimme the Money or Dorothy Here Gets It!

Console Wars Reveal Sony's Hubris?

I set out this morning, steeling myself for the dangers that lay ahead. Despite the stories, I knew so little of what truly lay before me ...

]]> First impressions were that everything was just massive. If you haven't been to the Los Angeles Convention Center, think of the biggest warehouse you've ever been in ... and then think of the craziest designed buildings you've ever seen ... but inside the warehouse. Then add bright lights and booming music and dancing girls and you've got some idea of what its like to be at E3.

I spent the first part of the day in Kentia Hall, literally the basement of E3. This is where they relegate all the little guys in the industry. "The underground" as the kind gentleman from Defcon Skins described it. (I'll get back to them in a minute.) This is where the people with new controllers, new technology, all the off-the-wall games that haven't yet made it are kept. If you want to see the far future and its possibilities, this is where you come. I saw many implementations of "body controllers", things you wear on your arms and legs to track your movements so you could really "get in the game". I saw game chairs with speakers and controllers built into them. I even saw a system where you put a strap around your head to monitor your brain waves. It would watch your level of concentration and if you lapsed for too long you would lose control of your car.

Defcon Skins earns an honorable mention for being the most receptive to this humble blogger. As I said before, I got my pass by virtue of being with a large employer, so most of the people in Kentia Hall saw this and wanted to sell things to my employer. Defcon Skins took the time to find out why I was really there and learned of my blog and wanted to sell to my blog and its meager readership. They make "skins" that apply to your game consoles and controllers with graphic designs to spruce things up. These skins consist of stickers, but where I would normally say, "Yuck" and move on ... they assured me that these stickers can be removed and won't leave any glue or residue on the console, they won't crack, peel or fade, and they are designed with tiny channels on the back side so that they won't bubble when you apply them. Sounds like a tall order ... but I'm willing to give it a try with my original Xbox. I'll let you know how it stacks up.

Now ... on to the big boys. Of course one of the biggest things about the show was the dual announcement of the Sony PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii ...

Sony announced the pricing and configuration of the PS3 a couple days ago. The PS3 is going to include a BluRay DVD drive, a hard drive (either 20GB or 60GB), and built-in networking. It's also going to be priced at $500 (for the 20GB configuration) and $600 (for the 60GB). The thing to understand is that the BluRay DVD technology is Sony's bid to take over the High-Definition DVD market. You see ... DVDs currently only store video at 480 lines of resolution. The holy grail of DVD is 1080 lines of resolution ... the quality of the picture in a movie theater. There are two competing formats ... BluRay and HD-DVD. HD-DVD players are currently available for about $600. BluRay players, on the other hand, are not ... but they're slated to be even more expensive, at least $1,000. The BluRay players will become available right at the same time that the PS3 does ... in November of this year. But the PS3 will be at least $400 cheaper.

And now, a history lesson ...

Some of you may remember when VCRs came out. Originally there was only one vendor, Sony. They had the BetaMax standard ... and they licensed it to other people to make many players. But they did so in such a way that the cheapest BetaMax players would be Sony's by a long shot. So the rest of the industry jumped ship and created a new standard called "VHS" that eventually supplanted Sony's BetaMax because it was cheaper and much more common. Nowadays, most people don't remember BetaMax ...

So it appears that Sony is poised to make the same mistake. They're trying to get PS3s into people's houses by basically making it a cheap BluRay player ... hoping that this will expand their gaming market, I suppose. But in the process, they're screwing over their business partners ... again. Its very strange though ... Sony is barely taking an interest in the whole process. They've barely identified any launch titles ... and really, this is the place to do that. The PSP is in the toilet ... most people use it as a portable media platform ... not for gaming. Perhaps Sony is looking to bow out of the gaming market gracefully?

The complete opposite of Sony is Nintendo. They've jumped back into the gaming market with both feet as the innovators they've always been. The Nintendo Wii is the hit of the show with a two to three hour long line just to get a chance to look at the thing and play one game. Everyone I've talked to has had nothing but unabashed praise for the console and the new controller. The controller looks like a TV remote ... and its innocuousness is its power. It is designed with motion sensors so that it can act like a sword ... or a fishing pole ... or a conductors baton ... or a drumstick ... or anything else the developers can dream up. From what I have heard, it is a whole new level of immersion. I hope to be able to see it for myself today ... but I already know that I'll be buying a Wii when it becomes available ... despite the stupid name.

Somewhere in the middle is Microsoft's Xbox 360, the only "next-generation" console that's already out (which really makes them all "current generation" doesn't it?). Basically, their goal for E3 is to show off as many up-and-coming titles as possible ... and they are. Where Nintendo has hours-long lines ... Microsoft has rows upon rows of stations where you can play demos of all the games that are slated to be released this year. Perhaps today I'll have more of a chance to check them out and see what's compelling ... and what's not.

I could go on and on and on ... about all the MMOs I saw, Viva Pinata, Spore and more! But my breakfast is here and I need to get back to the grind. Hopefully I'll be able to find a spot to sit down and type today so that I can report more ... from the floor of E3!

E3 Coverage - Day 1

So this is it ... time to head to Los Angeles and see what the scions of the gaming world have come up with to entrance, amaze and entertain us this year. Read on for today's travelogue ...

]]> I'm sitting in San Francisco International Airport and I just have a significant feeling of "ho hum". This was supposed to be Bu's and my big vacation ... and now I'm going by myself. It feels weird to not be excited about being able to make the pilgrimage to the video game industry's Mecca ... but I just don't feel it yet. Could it be that there's some latent emotional scarring from the hotel scare I had the last time I went to a convention in Los Angeles? Could it be that I'm convinced deep down that something is going to go wrong and I'm not going to be able to get in? I don't know ... we'll see how excited I get once I'm in.

My flight is delayed, which is really weird for flying on a weekday ... especially a Tuesday, the slowest travel day of the week. On top of being delayed for an hour and a half, it's jam packed. I can't get an aisle seat to save my life. Fortunately, there's a flight leaving just fifteen minutes later that's much more comfy ... so I switch to that one.

I've been wanting to attend E3 for years and now that I've finally made it, E3 is going to be televised on G4TV and peeks and previews are going to be available on Xbox Live Marketplace. There's an unprecedented level of access to the show this year. I'm kinda wondering if it wouldn't be more fun to just sit at home, skyping with Phicksen and watching the coverage on the television. Of course, Bu has challenged me to get as many pictures of myself with booth babes as possible ...

So I pick up the latest issue of Popular Science and a couple DVDs and head to my new gate ...

Once I've landed in LA, the first thing I notice is that we taxi the plane a really, really, really, really long time. I mean, we must've taxied halfway to Las Vegas before we turned around and headed back to the terminal. And the weather report at SFO said that it was "hazy" in LA. Sorry guys, pretty it up all you like ... the rest of the world calls that "smog". And while we're on the subject of stereotypical LA ... while sitting through traffic on the way to the hotel I saw a young lady reading a book, driving and chewing bubble gum at the same time! Now that's talent!

Los Angeles also seems to really like turning the sides of buildings into billboards. We drove past a building advertising the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra with a picture of ostensibly one of the female members who was about four or five stories high. I wish I could've snapped a picture of it ... because it was hard to believe that she was a band geek.

Once I finally arrived at the hotel, my mood changed significantly. The staff was immensely helpful and courteous ... and surprise, surprise ... my room was upgraded to a "Junior Suite". I thought, great ... so they shoved a sofa in a room barely big enough for the bed. Boy ... was I wrong. You'll see when I get the pictures uploaded ...

E3 Coverage Here

On the ninth of May, I'll be travelling to Los Angeles to attend the Electronics Entertainment Exposition, more commonly known as E³. It is the annual show where the video game industry struts its stuff ... but only to game industry insiders. I'm not necessarily an insider ... but since I work for one, I was able to wrangle a pass. Bu is supposed to be going with me ... this has been our dream for the past two years, to go together ... but he's been having problems with obtaining his pass, so we're not sure if he's going to be able to make it.

So I'll be doing my best, whether Bu can come or not, to provide a glimpse into what this show is all about right here on legoinrants.com. Pictures of booth babes, information on the latest games, all right here as soon as I can find an Internet connection to upload it.

Best description of the male/female divide evar!

Tomb Raider: Legend

So rather than pick up Rumble Roses XX, I picked up Tomb Raider: Legend. Although it stars equally curvaceous feminine heroes, it has a lot more game to it. Punish long ago extoled the virtues of Tomb Raider to me, but I just couldn't get past the marketing (vis-a-vis Lara Croft's figure) ... so this is actually the first Tomb Raider game I've played. I must say, that it is fun for a 3D platformer ... though it suffers all the standard 3D platformer challenges: inobvious camera angles, sometimes superhuman accuracy requirements, etc. And, since this is the first time I've played a Tomb Raider game ... I'm not sure if the Dragon's Lair-style follow-the-bouncing-button animation sections are new or not. So far, I invariably fail the first time through one of these animations ... and then find them trivial thereafter. Not a complaint ... just an insight.

Maybe more on the game later ... right now, to work! I have to support my habit, y'know ...

Enough to Make Me Blush

I saw the ad for Rumble Roses XX on my Xbox360 guide screen. It advertises that the game "features all female wrestling". Now, anytime a game features all-female anything ... its bound to be something that would put out any woman with the barest minimum of feminist leanings to be certain, but this takes the cake. I have to admit that I have a certain niggling morbid curiosity about the game ... but, then again, if I play it, my Xbox360 Gamer Profile will display that fact forever and ever.

And really, what kinds of Achievements would it offer? Skankiest Outfit Evar?

Teacher Blows Off Own Hand in Front of Students

That is the headline I would have put over this article. And if I could have gotten away with it, it would have started with "Dumbass". The man picks up a 40mm shell ... which, by the way, is the size of a large grenade or mortar round while out hunting and assumes it's not live?!? The irony is thick here ... this is a teacher!

New Lara Croft Model

So I'm reading about the new model for Lara Croft, Karima Adebibe, and all the training they're putting her through. And the only thing I can think of is, "for what?" I mean, she's the new model. She's not going to star in any movies. She's going to stand around at E3 and other trade shows. She could recite poetry by Goethe and nobody would care. Do people really springboard into an acting career from being a booth babe?

And please ... to whomever wrote the comment for the picture on IGN, "Mmmmm, check out those birthin 'hips" Those are not birthin' hips. Mimi Rogers has birthin' hips. Kate Winslet has birthin' hips. So don't point to some anorexic wannabe, hips barely wider than her waist, let alone her boobs, and say she's got birthin' hips. I could break her like a twig ... with or without her SAS training.

Enterprise

Ever since I went against the entire vastness of geekdom, in that I didn't like Firefly, I have been second-guessing my instincts when it comes to these things. Could it be that I was wrong about Star Trek: Enterprise? Well, I decided to use my NetFlix account to do some research ... and ordered the first season. Not only in the first season ... but in the very first episode were sown the seeds of the series' destruction.

]]> I commented before on why I stopped watching Star Trek at Voyager. And it is obvious that Enterprise is following the same formula. Anyone who watched the first episode knows about "the decontamination scene". T'Pol, the Vulcan science officer, and one of the other crewmen get into a chamber and have to rub "decon gel" over each other's bodies. Ok, that description sounds more racy than it actually was ... but it was a prime-time show. But I found myself screaming, once again, 90210 in Space.

And really, who writes this shit anyway? I mean, you can't choose a more sexually repressed character than a freaking Vulcan. Don't the writers know the canon? They only get the urge to mate once every seven years! (Though I admit its possible that they would mate for pleasure at times other than when biological drive dictates ... even the possibility of a seven-year headache is enough for me to swear off Vulcans.) This has got to be the stupidest idea short of something akin to The Chompers.

Other than the gratuitous attempts to mainstream the series ... its enjoyable enough ... but by no means would I have shed a tear at the series' end. Give me Farscape any day!

Furniture!

Yes, I know I've been lax at updating. I haven't allowed an entire month to go by without updating in a long, long time. Let's hope this is the last time. Last month was pretty busy though ... and, being the first month of a new year ... and being that I turned thirty-five last month ... it was a time of introspection. Where am I going with my life? My career? Am I going to spend the rest of my life alone? Would that be so bad?

]]> I've learned that I'm much better at getting things done if I can concentrate on what to do right now. If I try to come up with some big plan ... then all I do is plan and never get anything done. So yesterday, I used the SuperBowl as an excuse to buy furniture. I figured I'd want to have a couch to sit and watch it on ... not that I was having guests ... but maybe next year. So I drove off to my local Ikea and blew about $700 on a couch and a bookcase (the lack of places to store my huge collection of computer books has been driving me batty).

The other thing I discovered though is that I really need some help if I'm going to get this place looking nice. I was walking through Ikea and picking out a bunch of things and I looked at what I had picked and realized that not a single item matched any other item. I had chosen everything for its functionality and completely ignored its form. And really, I want people who come to my house to walk in and say, "Wow!"

So, hopefully, I'm on my way ...

Sometimes I wish I was still a physicist so I could study things like the multidimensionality of time