I got a request for a C&C Generals picture, so I created a generic one, a USA one, a China one, and a GLA one. Continuing with the gaming theme, I created pictures for two other new games as well. If you like Half-Life 2 your display picture is here. And if you’re addicted to The Sims 2, check out your display picture here.
All of these new pictures are part of the Pop Culture Series. You can see all of my display pictures here. So there you go, happy gaming!
Seems like all we do these days is vote. You’d think they could spread these elections out a bit more! Anyway, today is the provincial election here in Alberta, so if you are reading this, live in Alberta, and have not voted yet, go do it now! You still have until 8 PM MST tonight, so a little over 5 hours from now.
I’ll follow up with the results of the election later. Does anyone know why we vote for Senators? Seemed odd to me to get that ballot today. Oh and once again, I was easily the only person under 50 at the voting location. I don’t think they saw many young people today at all as I was congratulated for voting TWICE. Its a sad state of affairs when I need to be commended for casting my vote.
I noticed that the new Google Scholar site was announced a couple days ago, but it was not working when I tried to access it. I just remembered it, so I gave it a try, and sure enough it works now. Or more specifically, the website can be accessed, but does the functionality really work?
Essentially what Google has created is a search engine for articles. Looking for a published article on a topic? Google Scholar will help you find it. However, it stops there. Most of the articles that are found are either in books (which means you need to buy or borrow the book) or belong on sites that require authentication and some sort of subscription. If you are a University student, you can usually get to these sites using the Library website.
So I don’t know how useful the site really is. You might save yourself some time by just using the Library site’s search engine. I haven’t done any comparisons, so perhaps Google Scholar returns more accurate results, however you would still need to find those articles through the Library site if you want access to the full text.
While I was out falling on my face at Snow Valley, my sister had a very scary evening. Read all about it here. Freaks me out just to know it happened to her 😦
Tonight I went snowboarding at Snow Valley with The Snowmaster (Dickson), The Unsung Pro (Felicia), her sidekick (Steph), The Speedster (Chu), The Noobs (Michelle and Andrew) and The Snowbunny (Renee). And it was actually quite fun!
This was the first time I had ever gone, so I fell down a lot at the beginning. Including one or two face plants. And let me tell you, it hurt. I think it was worse because I was only wearing jeans, so I was completely soaked by the night’s end. I think I did pretty good though, taking to the chairlift hill almost right away. By the end I was doing quite well, and not falling down (except when I tried to walk). My knees hate me, and I am sure they will hate me more tomorrow.
Dickson is amazing, Chu is so fast, Felicia never falls. I was in awe. I guess practice really does make perfect! Even though I enjoyed it, I couldn’t help but think that something was missing. The group assures me that on a mountain things are much different, but it felt like I should be shooting at targets on the way down or something. Just up the hill and then back down, over and over. Maybe I need to get the guts to do some jumps or something to make it interesting.
I am quite sore now, and I know it will be worse tomorrow. My nice hot shower helped when I got home, and the rum is definitely helping now. If only I knew a pharmacist 😛
Seems a bit farfetched to me, but I figure some of you might be interested:
“The internet is a perfect drug delivery system because you are anonymous, aroused and have role models for these behaviors,” Layden said. “To have drug pumped into your house 24/7, free, and children know how to use it better than grown-ups know how to use it — it’s a perfect delivery system if we want to have a whole generation of young addicts who will never have the drug out of their mind.”
As the article itself suggests, any negative behaviour that might occur as a result of a “pornography addiction” can also happen from other activities, like gambling or shopping. Specifically, I take issue with this statement:
Pornography addicts have a more difficult time recovering from their addiction than cocaine addicts, since coke users can get the drug out of their system, but pornographic images stay in the brain forever, Layden said.
You can’t exactly erase that memory of winning the jackpot at the casino now can you? Or how much joy you experienced when you bought those new shows. I think the researchers are painting pornography in a particularly unfair negative light. It’s not like we have studies floating around that say “shopping worse than crack!”
Read: Wired
Bill Gates is probably the world’s most spammed person, and I am confident he gets a lot more spam than you:
Bill Gates gets 4 million emails a day according to Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer. `There are two people who probably are the number one spam recipients in the world,` Ballmer said at a Microsoft event in Singapore `Bill Gates because he is Bill Gates. Bill literally receives four million pieces of e-mail per day, most of it spam.`
So you must be wondering how he deals with all that spam. Well, in addition to spam filters, he has a “whole department” dedicated to making sure he doesn’t see any of that spam. Wouldn’t that be nice?
Read: PC Pro
It is being reported today by a variety of media outlets that Disney is planning to go ahead and make a second sequel to Toy Story, without Pixar. Apparently, Disney is setting up its own digital animation facility to create the movie, which it owns the rights to.
I can only imagine the profanity Mr. Jobs is spewing right now, as he has long wanted to retain control of the Pixar characters. I suppose I agree that it makes business sense for Disney to do this, as digital animation is the future, and they might as well make their first movie something almost guaranteed to be successful. They are in a kind of slump, and could in effect finance their new studio using the proceeds from this movie. On the other hand, this probably means there is absolutely no chance of Disney and Pixar working together in the future.
And I dunno about you, but I have never thought of Toy Story, or Monsters, Inc., or Finding Nemo as Disney movies. I have always considered them Pixar movies. I don’t think I like the idea of a Toy Story movie being made by a company other than Pixar.
I have come up with a new strategy for the Democrats in the United States. I think their best bet for getting rid of Bush is to try and impeach him. Confused?
[Condoleezza] Rice has been a consummate insider in the Bush White House and so close to the president that she is almost like part of the family, leading some experts to worry Bush might not be in a position to hear dissenting views.
She is so close to Bush that they sometimes seem as if they are “joined at the hip,” Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution think tank told CNN.
The facts are clear. All you need to do is catch them in a compromising act, and you’re good to go!
Read: Reuters
Looks like I’m in trouble now:
Heavy computer use could be linked to glaucoma, especially among those who are short-sighted, fear researchers.
Glaucoma is caused by increased fluid pressure within the eye compressing the nerves at the back, which can lead to blindness if not treated.
The findings, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, are based on 10,000 Japanese workers.
The authors and experts recommend more research, particularly because being short-sighted is a known glaucoma risk.
I wonder how long it will be until research appears that counters these findings! Not long I would guess.
Read: BBC
