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    Monday, July 13th, 2009
    muskrat_john
         		10:31a
    Dork Tower Monday
     Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you there.

    New Dork Tower cartoon up today.



    Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

    ****

    I'm trying to get back to three strips a week. While I'm still pushed for time, I've been really unhappy with the flow of the strip while I pulled it back to twice a week (even if that was only intended as a temporary thing during Louisa's first year). We'll see.

    In some bad news, Comics Buyers' Guide has had to cut back on expenses due to the economy, and alas, alack, one of those expenses was Dork Tower. The editor says this is hopefully just a temporary thing, and given the feedback I get from the CBG staff and editors, I'm hoping so as well. Yet, for the first time in ten years, Dork Tower is exclusively a web-only strip.

    This is a paradigm I've yet to get used to.

    This is also a business model I need to figure out. While I'm notoriously unmotivated by money, the fact that there is now a Daughter involved and a College Fund to be funded puts a spin on things that wasn't there five years ago.

    On the plus side, while there are still massive slowdowns on the Gamespy server, at least the move to the new server is expected to be VERY soon.So hopefully the site should be super-fast and super-spiffy super soon.

    Current Music: "All of My Days and All of My Days Off" - AC Newman
    Sunday, July 12th, 2009
    selinker
         		11:54p
    the most beautiful internet meme: the Grass Mud Horse
     What: The cǎo ní mǎ (in Mandarin, "Grass Mud Horse"), the alpaca-like creature that is the symbol of a peaceful and creative response to the Chinese government's internet censorship campaign. Here is the wildly popular children's song that commemorates the creature's lively, intelligent, and tenacious nature.

    Why: The cǎo ní mǎ first appeared on a Chinese wiki site called Baidu Bakke in January of this year. Here, readers learned that the cǎo ní mǎ (草泥马) originates from an area of the Ma Le Gobi Desert (马勒戈壁), where it eats fertile grass all day. However, its continued existence was threatened by a virulent species of river crab (河蟹), which came close to consuming all the rich grass. Thankfully, the cǎo ní mǎ herds banded together to beat back the river crabs, and now thrive on the Ma Le Gobi plains. And in case you don't read Mandarin, ( this is what I just said. )

    Impact: In January, the story of the Grass Mud Horse spread across the Chinese internet like the Andromeda strain. The New York Times picked it up in March, leading to a YouTube song campaign, the sale of scads of plush dolls, and even more amusingly named animals. Interestingly, the government has not wiped out the cǎo ní mǎ, though presumably they could with ease. They're certainly aware that while they can take away the voice of many, the most dedicated will always find a new way to be heard.

    Personal Connection: Whenever possible, I pay close attention to China. They are a military superpower, they control a terrifying $800 billion of our debt, and they are a major partner of mine in the creation of the games on which I depend for survival. Their complete lack of concern over the rights I take for granted is troubling at best. This hit me most squarely on June 4, 1989, which preceded my graduation from college by one day. But while American college grads wearing white armbands over their gowns can send a message, nothing is more powerful than a voice from within. The Grass Mud Horse was exactly the kind of warning shot across the bow that the Chinese government needed to hear.

    Other Contenders: the 2000 unearthing of All Your Base Are Belong To Us, the first time that the net was of one mind; that set of facts about reputed actor Chuck Norris (e.g., "Chuck Norris can touch MC Hammer"); the quick spread of the cult of the Flying Spaghetti Monster in 2005; the last boisterous gasp of World of Warcraft's Leeroy Jenkins.
    exvee
         		1:59a
    Last updated 19 weeks ago
     19 weeks. Damn.

    I'm a bit tipsy so this won't be completely Kyle-esque. Or perhaps it will. Whatever the case, the random order of this post is therefore excused. Ish.

    Still with Vera! For some reason she still finds me attractive, and anyone that's met her knows it's not difficult to maintain attraction to her. 19 weeks ago... is almost 20 ... is like 5 months. Not sure where I left off, but we moved in together in March. It's amazing. We've got out routines and chores figured out and are successfully living 'teh lief', as it were. Although currently I AM ANGRY WITH HER. (not rly)

    She left me for Uzbekistan. For the unaware, that's in Central Asia. For those without a globe, that's really far away. She has been there since ... well, she left Monday, got there around Thursday or something our time. Maybe Wednesday. She will remain there until ... well, she gets back August 1st. And god dammit August can't come soon enough. I miss my baby. :(

    I am not working nor going to school. I am, in my own words, a low-life. For those curious, I am also currently eating some rather plain tortilla (tort-ill-yah) chips for lack of anything else that is readily edible. I killed the last of the ice cream earlier. Such is life.

    I am, however, looking for work. I had seven resume's, I now have one. I feel hopeful for two of those resume's to do me justice. The last resume is being saved for "the big one," whatever that may be. Trader Joe's is opening up, though, and I -think- that I can land one job out of, like, 50 that they are hiring for. Maybe. Fingers -and toes- crossed.

    This is not to say I have dropped out, of course. Well, permanently. I went to school one day this summer and decided I wanted my money back, so they gave it to me. I will be continuing my studies this coming fall, although I'm not sure in what. Point is, I'm planning on graduating by the end of this coming spring. After that, this rambling idiot can say, "At least I have a diploma." Nigga wut?

    I'm getting back into L5R! Maybe. If there's any scene, at all. My minimum is six people a week. I'm willing to travel as far as Tacoma for weekly tournaments, Seattle for monthly. We shall see. -_-

    Going to cut my losses here. Good night all!

    Kyle Andersen
    Greener. Gardener. Gooder.
    Saturday, July 11th, 2009
    blackberryusers
    [ caricaneba15 ]
         		5:24p
    I have a Blackberry 8100...and I am trying to use a sd 1G card, I wanna save my incoming texts on it, because even when I have 3 texts, it says my inbox is full...any ideas on how to do it? Thanks!
    Thursday, July 9th, 2009
    s0mmer
         		6:45p
    Super Awesome Lucky Day-ness!
     I had an appointment today and parked on the street like usual. Finished the appointment, got some groceries, and noticed rebar puncturing my tire :(  Who leaves rebar poking out of a dirt planting strip?  Plus it's hot and I bought ice cream :(  Luckily I have free roadside assistance, so I call the machine and they send someone.  And ten minutes later he's there.  Yes, I could change the tire myself but after massage therapy to help my screwy neck I don't want to tweak said neck.  The guy wasn't the brightest bulb but effectively changed the tire. 

    I drive home carefully on the donut, first stopping at Les Schwab to see about having the tire fixed.  We open the trunk to discover a fully inflated tire with no puncture!!!  The rebar just pushed far into my tire :D  Then they swapped tires, for free, and I'm home.  I think even the ice cream is ok ;)


    Current Mood: very pleased
    porphyre
         		2:34p
    nicola tesla as david bowie as nokia
     Nokia developing phone that recharges itself without mains electricity
    A new prototype charging system from the company is able to power itself on nothing more than ambient radiowaves - the weak TV, radio and mobile phone signals that permanently surround us. The power harvested is small but it is almost enough to power a mobile in standby mode indefinitely without ever needing to plug it into the mains, according to Markku Rouvala, one of the researchers who developed the device at the Nokia Research Centre in Cambridge, UK.

    The difference with Nokia's prototype is that instead of harvesting tiny amounts of power (a few microwatts) from dedicated transmitters, Nokia claims it is able to scavenge relatively large amounts of power -- around a thousand times as much -- from signals coming from miles away. Individually the energy available in each of these signals is miniscule. But by harvesting radiowaves across a wide range of frequencies it all adds up, said Rouvala.

    The trick here is to ensure that these circuits use less power than is being received, said Rouvala. So far they have been able to harvest up to 5 milliwatts. Their short-term goal is to get in excess of 20 milliwatts, enough power to keep a phone in standby mode indefinitely without having to recharge it. But this would not be enough to actually use the phone to make or receive a call, he says. So ultimately the hope is to be able to get as much as 50 milliwatts which would be sufficient to slowly recharge the battery.
    damiana_swan
         		11:44a
    recipe--Citrus Angel Torte
     For [info]sidhefire, and for anyone else who wants it. (And also so that I have it saved in my LJ memories.)

    Here's the recipe I created for my very favorite birthday cake. It started out as an "I'm broke" experiment which turned out to be a lemon angel torte over 20 years ago, and has evolved several times since then.

    Damiana's Citrus Angel Torte

    Angel food cake, either 1 tube or 2 loaf pans
    Citrus filling (below)
    3-4 cups whipped cream or whipped topping
    Fresh raspberries, mango, kiwi, etc. sliced or mashed as appropriate
    Dark chocolate, to shave over finished cake


    Filling

    1 ½ cups sugar
    4 tbsp corn starch
    dash of salt
    1 ½ cups cold water
    4 beaten egg yolks
    2 tsp citrus zest (orange, lemon, lime)
    2 tbsp lemon juice
    2 tbsp orange juice concentrate
    1 tbsp key lime juice
    1 tbsp mango juice
    2 tsp margarine or butter
    Combine all ingredients except for margarine/butter in a small saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until bubbly, then cook 1 minute more. Stir in margarine or butter. Cover surface with waxed paper; cool.

    Mix ½ of cooled filling with whipped topping. Slice angel food cake horizontally into 4 layers. Spread ½ of remaining filling on first layer, spoon on mashed fresh raspberries or other fruit, cover with second layer of cake. Spread whipped topping mixture on second layer, add sliced kiwi or other fruit, cover with third layer. Spread remaining filling and more raspberries on third layer and cover with fourth layer. Frost entire cake with remaining whipped topping mixture, then shave dark chocolate over cake. Chill until ready to serve.

    Note: if you use fat-free whipped topping, the entire cake has about 12 grams of fat. Whipped topping seems to work better with this cake than whipped cream, as the cream tends to feel too heavy in conjunction with the rest of the cake.
    blackberryusers
    [ belon ]
         		12:01p
    Wordpress Application
     I own a website (alexisbelon.com) that runs on wordpress so you can imagine how happy I was to hear there was a wordpress application available. I downloaded it and whenever I try to log-in, I get a message saying 'A Server Communications Error Occured: No Route to Blog'. I am so puzzled because this application seems to be working fine for everyone else. I've tried everything I could think of. I've enabled my XML-RPC. I've tried logging in from 'alexisbelon.com', 'alexisbelon.com/wp', 'alexisbelon.com/wp/wp-admin'. If anybody could offer me any type of advice, it'd be greatly appreciated. I have a T-mobile Blackberry Curve 8300. Thanks in advance !
    Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
    porphyre
         		4:35p
    Tell me something wonderful.
     I've been out of town and away from the computer for over a week. My time was spent in the company of good people in an interesting place having lovely conversations and tasty, tasty food. In the meantime, other things happened.

    Tell me what I've missed.
    blackberryusers
    [ talie ]
         		7:18p
    photos/caller-ID
     Can anyone suggest a program that allows you to use an entire photo as the caller-ID as opposed to the cropped version? I have a blackberry curve...if that helps. THANKS!
    damiana_swan
         		1:06p
    bhagwanx
         		1:19a
    Ahem…

    “Your item was delivered at 10:04 AM on July 6, 2009 in NEW YORK, NY 10010.”

    I intend to win the waiting game. In case people were taking score.

    Also, B2, Ch4 has become a conversation pit, but I’ve almost climbed out. I look forward to chopping the hell out of it on a later–much later–editing pass

    that is all. back to bed and pretend sleep for me.

    Originally published at Bhagwan @ Large. You can comment here or there.

    Monday, July 6th, 2009
    blackberryusers
    [ ambidextrous87 ]
         		9:04p
    battery receiver
     For some reason, the slot for the charger came loose and now my curve won't take a charge. Anyone know some magic trick to get it back in, or am I screwed completely?
    blackberryusers
    [ gryffinclaw ]
         		5:42p
    Twitter?
    I am new to Twitter and I have heard some not so positve things abotu TwitterBerry. So I am asking what is the best BB Twitter app to use?
    blackberryusers
    [ supreme_empress ]
         		4:07p
    Hi guys.

    I need help. For some reason when I try to download the mediasync from RIM's website, the download time's out after 1mb.

    Does anyone know of a mirror site where I can download mediasync?
    Sunday, July 5th, 2009
    hygelakthedread
         		8:01a
    Wedding
     The wedding is this Friday (July 10th).

    This next week? I figure if it doesn't drive us insane, we should be good for about anything... :)
    blackberryusers
    [ sheblobbers ]
         		1:47a
    Do you ever get into that feeling like you MUST have a new blackberry to be happy?

    I've got a Curve 8310. Basically mid-range kinda blackberry... But I keep obsessing about getting a new blackberry.
    The thing is... I should really wait until I can renew and get a new phone.. and not worry about spending money now. I just know that by the time my renewal comes along, there will be some amazingly new and awesome blackberry that I'll want.

    Does anyone else have feelings like this ever? Or is it just me? If it isn't just me... what do you all do to feel happy with your current blackberry.. in amongst all the fancy newer ones?
    Saturday, July 4th, 2009
    selinker
         		10:31a
    the most beautiful arcade game: the BattleTech pods
     What: The fully enclosed BattleMech cockpits used in futuristic multiplayer combat in Virtual World Entertainment's BattleTech Centers. A 'Mech pod features a huge viewscreen, a virtual map, a throttle, a joystick for firing a dozen weapons, movement pedals, heat sensors, and other bells and whistles. Here is a demonstration of a 'Mech in action:

    Why: Inherent in the definition of "arcade" is the sense of variety from one machine or attraction to the next. Not so in the BattleTech Centers, such as the flagship center in Chicago's North Pier. Here you'd just find row after row of pilot cockpits for 30-foot-tall exoskeletal tanks. You'd shut the door, lock in, and familiarize yourself with your BattleMech. And a whole lot of other people would too. Suddenly, you were fully immersed in 33rd century combat, blasting away at your enemies with rockets and lasers. The 'Mechs were all different, and you'd vary your play style based on whether you were in an agile Blackhawk or a lumbering Atlas. The pods' greatest innovation was a concept called "heat," where continuous firing of your weapons would not only deplete their ammunition, but burn out your 'Mech's systems as well. So you had to cool down, play smart, and watch your six.

    Impact: Launched in 1990, the pods drew gamers from everywhere. A second game, the Martian sled racer Red Planet, debuted in the pods, here shown off by Judge Reinhold, Joan Severance, Nora Dunn, Cheech Marin, and Weird Al. It's overstating things to say that the BattleTech Centers revolutionized arcade gaming, but they were the most ambitious virtual environments of their day. In the 1990s, there were 26 centers across the world, each with at least 12 pods. But by 2000 the main centers in Tokyo and Yokohama shut down, and Dave & Buster's closed its pod installations in the US. The VWE company passed to BattleTech originators FASA, then Microsoft, and now to an operation in Kalamazoo, which supports centers in a few US states. It's a modest old age for one of the greatest videogame systems of all time.

    Personal Connection: BattleTech co-creator Jordan Weisman and I have been friends for 15 years, working together on the BattleTech Trading Card Game in the 1990s and Pirates of the Spanish Main earlier this decade. At Origins this past weekend, we did something we'd never done before: face each other in a 'Mech pod battle. None of us were very good. While I stumbled about in my 85-ton Deimos, Jordan's son Nate flew circles around us in the much nimbler Shadowcat. By the end we'd actually killed ourselves as often as we'd killed each other, but a splendid time was had by one and all. (Thanks to MechCorps for comping us. You guys rule.)

    Other Contenders: that game's spiritual godfather BattleZone, where green wireframe tanks bore down on you like death; the Guns 'N Roses pinball machine, with its gun and rose-shaped plungers, snake ramp, and head-banging soundtrack; the gorgeous Don Bluth-animated Dragon's Lair cabinet game, and yes, those are gameplay sequences from 1983; Acclaim's summoning game prototype Magic: The Gathering—Armageddon, the coolest arcade game never produced; the dual-pad Dance Dance Revolution, the only exercise many gamers get; the quest for that perfect game of skee-ball.
    smphq
         		8:17a
    New SMP myspace!
    Check out the new SMP myspace: http://www.myspace.com/smphq
    Friday, July 3rd, 2009
    smphq
         		4:14p
    Spins for Pissing on the Legacy.
     ( Read more... )


    Current Mood: disappointed
    Current Music: Howard Stern
    Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
    bhagwanx
         		5:31p
    Shots fired. I repeat, Shots fired.

    There is no more editing. No more revisions, no more second guessing.

    There is only waiting, and moving on to the next story, for now.

    Today is cover letter, synopsis and self-addressed, stamped envelope day.

    Manuscript submitted.

    Finally.

    ( Read the rest of this entry » )

    Originally published at Bhagwan @ Large. You can comment here or there.

    muskrat_john
         		3:10p
    Dork Tower Thursday
     Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you there.

    New Dork Tower cartoon up today.



    Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

    Sorry about reusing panels from old strips, but honestly, if I hadn't, there'd be no cartoon today, with my schedule this week...I try and be upfront about this. Pride is involved. Even if it's a "Wall" strip, I *enjoy* the drawing part of this job: plus, it's the only way you get better at it.

    It frustrates the heck out of me when there's a massive time crunch like this, and a dozen deadlines seem to loom.

    ****

    On the plus side, I spent the morning with Louisa, and saw her pull herself up, and stand up for the very first time!

    An ecstatic and terrifying moment! My baby girl is eight and a half months old, and crawling like nobody's business. It's moments like these why I'm staying away from conventions until she's at least a year old.

    I'm thinking about all my pals at the AAEC convention, and at CONvergence this weekend. But in all honesty, seeing Louisa stand for the first time is worth a thousand conventions, to me.

    Current Mood: busy
    Current Music: "Capernaum" - The Tannahill Weavers
    emufiend 12:17p
    shteevie
         		12:09p
    Come party with me!
     I love concerts, and don't go to nearly as many of them as I used to before I earned a case of Tinnitus on a red eye from Dallas to Seattle.

    So when Built to Spill [my favorite band] plays the Capitol Hill Block Party [a few blocks from my house] on 7/24/2009 [a week before my 30th birthday], I get very very excited.

    Suffice to say that this cosmic alignment suggests - nay, DEMANDS - that some people come out to hear them with me. If you aren't off in California for SDCC [aka the "Sweaty Denigrating Capitalist Cosplayathon" or "San Diego Comic Con"], please consider coming down to rock out.
    blackberryusers
    [ bluetoken ]
         		1:35p
    Desktop Manager Software
     hi! i just got a Blackberry Curve 8310 from at&t and i want to transfer music and ringtones from my computer to my blackberry. so i'm looking for a download to the desktop manager software that will allow me to transfer mp3 files to my phone using my usb cable.
    if you could help at all, i'd really appreciate it! thanks
    [ << Previous 25 ]
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