Monthly Archives: November 2009

Make my OS Faster

Have you noticed how all prominent operating systems seem to bloat with each release? Windows is probably the best example, but even Ubuntu had slowly gained weight and become more of a resource hog over the years. It’s sad really. … Continue reading

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Happy Black Friday

Ok, hands up if you have Black Friday off this year? Some people don’t. I do, and I’m glad! Long weekends FTW! Incidentally, guess what I’m doing on Black Friday this year? Getting up early to catch the best deals … Continue reading

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Happy Thanksgiving

I wanted to wish all my US based readers a very happy Thanksgiving. I’m not going to ask you what you are thankful for because it is a silly question, and I can’t stand when people ask it. Seriously, I … Continue reading

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Mass Effect: Minigames

Once again, I must ask: why do we need mandatory mini games in RPG’s? Don’t get me wrong, sometimes this works. For example, lock-picking in Fallout 3 was done just right. I didn’t mind it at all – in fact, … Continue reading

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Mass Effect: Repetition

I play RPG’s as if I had OCD – I hate to leave side quests unfinished, and locations un-looted or at the very least unseen. I tried to apply this same mindset to Mass Effect but that was a mistake. … Continue reading

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Mass Effect: First Impression

At a first glance Mass Effect looks like a KotOR game, stripped down of all Star Wars branding. It’s a skill based RPG with loot, upgradable loot, dialog trees, planet based locations, spaceship used as a travel / companion exchange … Continue reading

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Celebrifixation

I wrote about the cult of celebrity before, but it remains one of these things that sort of fascinates me. I am mostly indifferent celebrities themselves, but the worship-like attention they receive is a very interesting phenomenon. We have this … Continue reading

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Left 4 Dead 2: Demo

People have been telling me about Left 4 Dead for the longest time. I admit that the game did appeal to me on some level. I mean, it is about Zombies. You just can’t go wrong with a zombie themed … Continue reading

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Kubuntu 9.10 Upgrade: Karmic nVidia Failure

Did they name Ubunu 9.10 Karmic on purpose, and then had it ruin the lives of the wicked people? My upgrade was an absolute train wreck. I spent my whole afternoon, and evening fixing it, and managed to accidentally delete … Continue reading

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VALIS

I love books that fuck with my head so much I can’t think straight for days. I’m serious – I am drawn to complexity, mystery, twisted and convoluted plot that makes little sense. When I finish a book and feel … Continue reading

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My Mailman is a Ninja

The mailman who does rounds in my office building is a fucking ninja. I am not shitting you. I have never actually seen him – it’s uncanny. The mail just appears on the desk in the empty cubicle across from … Continue reading

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Open Source and Cost of Use

Funny story: a coworker saw me using Clonezilla the other day. I was sitting in the frigid server room (did I say room, it’s more like a closet really) and cloning the shit out of some laptops. He seemed impressed … Continue reading

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Building Massive Scale Space Constructs

Kevin Kelly’s Technium Blog is consistently mind blowing. If you are not reading it yet, you should. In one of his recent posts he linked to this amazing USA Today slide show that illustrates the evolution of the International Space … Continue reading

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My Game Queue… Err… Set

Ok ladies, fair folk and gentle people. Time to review my game queue. Yes, I do have a game queue. It gives a much needed direction to my life. This is how it looks right now. Crossed out entries are … Continue reading

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You don’t need to convert them…

Recently a friend of mine approached me with a weird question: how to install Windows on a machine without a CD or Floppy drive. I was intrigued. The obvious question here was “why?” It turned out that he just ordered … Continue reading

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Copyright law in the age of remix mashups

A wise man once told me that creating a wholly new and original work of art is nigh impossible these days. We have been creating art, music and told stories since the dawn of time. Over the years we have … Continue reading

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What does your browser say about you? (2009 edition)

Long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I posted the infamous article titled “What does your browser say about you?”. It got like 400 comments, got me on Digg, Reddit and crashed my server at least twice. … Continue reading

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