8224 – Spore

Why didn’t anyone tell me about Spore sooner? veblefetzer hosted this gameplay video, and I’m pretty dang impressed. Now *that*’s my kind of sandbox.

The game allows the player to begin with developing a creature as a cellular entity and eventually creating a creature with more sophisticated brain functions, which will change the nature of the game to a more RTS-type game (he cited a particular favorite of his, Populous), where players will control herds of creatures. Once you upgrade the “hut” around which the creatures centralize, the game changes into what he called “a simple version of SimCity” where the player manages technology and interacts with other cities that have sprung up around the world.

The creature creation tool is quite simply amazing, not to mention the programming that regulates (automatically!) how the creatures walk, run and move

He demonstrated how the player can eventually purchase a UFO to travel between planets–and eventually star systems–to populate, conquer, or simply observe. Particularly impressive was the game’s emergent gameplay and seemingly infinite possibilities for playing creatively

Geotarget

Definitely worth a BANGS!

[edit – more info on Spore here, at wikipedia. sharp!]

  • SporeWiki – A wiki dedicated to all things Spore.
  • Spore Portal – Spore fansite.
  • Spore Monsters – Spore news and rumours site.
  • 8223 – Saturday, on call.

    RS dropped from full-time at the office to working part time from home. I think that’ll work out much better for her.


    For about 17 cents a minute, SpoofCard lets you send any numeric string as your Caller ID code. It comes with optional voice modification. And you don’t need a computer to use the service.


    Joan (the building governor) called me up yesterday, and told me that she needed the key to my condo, “in case of emergencies”. How did she find out that her old key didn’t work? She went up to my place with the super to repair the oprch screens, and got upset that she couldn’t get in.

    First of all, I had the screens repaired before I had even moved in, and I documented that to her in no uncertain terms… in December.

    Second, there was no notice that she’d be going into my home. It surely wasn’t an emergency.

    Third, She couldn’t be bothered to *telephone* before trying to get into my place.

    Fourth, Newt’s in there… and she doesn’t have the reaction time to stop him if he decided to bolt.

    Needless to say, I got a little hot with her on the phone. I told her that she is under *no* circumstances to enter my place without my permission or presence. She won’t be getting a key anytime soon now. I’m glad I found out before relying on her

    Her excuse was “well, I rang your doorbell, and nobody answered, so I figured I’d come in and take care of it”

    um, no. What if I was having a shower or sleeping soundly? If I came out of there / work and spotted her in my apartment, I would very likely have tossed her happy ass in jail… or vibrated her carcass into its component atoms by screaming at her at the top of my pongid lungs.

    scream


    Time lapse picture of Newtcam yesterday.

    8222 –

    German Engineering in der haus, ya. Router took a nosedive last night, had to reconfigure it and the modem (took about 30 min of setup and testing.. just pesky)… and hp’s system went kerflooie, too.


    cottonelle-for-kids
    Kimberly Clark is now offering a new type of toilet paper designed to train kids on how much toilet paper to use.

    Cottonelle For Kids has doggie tracks printed on the toilet paper, and at roughly every five sheets is a cartoon drawing of a dog. Parents are instructed to teach their children to follow the tracks and then tear off at the dog.


    Your moment of Scotto hippie tree-hugging upset – via flablog

    A roundup of recent editorials on the Ocala National Forest part of the sale:

    + Daytona Beach News-Journal: Endangered lands — From almost any public-minded perspective, President Bush’s plan to sell off up to 300,000 acres in the national forest system and 500,000acres within the Bureau of Land Management is a mistake. From some vantage points, it looks like an outright scam.

    + Ocala Star-Banner: Fire sale of forest is recklessThe idea of selling off chunks of our national forests as a one-time budgetary stopgap, as the Bush administration is proposing, is shortsighted fiscal policy that would set a dangerous precedent.Selling off 973 acres of Ocala National Forest land as part of the proposed 306,000-acre dispersal in 41 states, is also environmentally reckless.

    + Orlando Sentinel: A land grabthe bush administration wants to support “rural education” by selling300,000 acres of forestland, including almost 1,000 acres in the Ocala National Forest. Doesn’t this rob the communities of the very thing that defines them as rural? Are we missing something here?

    + St. Pete Times: Taxing our forestspresident bush’s disdain for our national forests has hit a new low. First he made it easier for the timber industry to log public forests under a program mockingly named Healthy Forests. Now Bush wants to sell off pieces of national forests in 35 states, including Florida, for development.


    For several weeks web journalists have been linking to a compilation page by Paul English, who took it upon himself to put together a list of how to bypass corporations’ voice mail systems to talk to a real person.

    The site became extremely popular, so now English has created a new site called gethuman, which lets consumers report how it is to deal with companies.

    A major part of this site is the gethuman database,which is the phone number list for stores, utilities, insurance companies, credit card companies, and lots more. In many cases the instructions say to just hit ‘zero’ or say ‘representative’ but for some companies there is an actual phone number that goes straight to a person. There’s also a useful page of tips on how to deal with companies in general.

    If you’d run across the phone list before, note you’ll need to change your bookmark to the new gethuman address. (thanks, Liz!)


    Moment of Lyric – mp3

    Day is ending
    Birds are wending
    Back to their shelter of
    Each little nest they love

    Nightshade’s falling
    Lovebirds calling
    What makes the world go round
    Nothing but love

    When Whippoorwills call
    And evening is nigh
    I hurry to my blue heaven
    I turn to the right
    A little white light
    Will lead you to my blue heaven

    You’ll see a smiling face
    A fireplace, a cozy room
    A little nest
    That’s nestled where the roses bloom

    Just Molly and me
    And baby makes three
    We’re happy in my blue heaven

    You’ll see a smiling face
    A fireplace, a cozy room
    A little nest
    That’s nestled where the roses bloom

    Just Molly and me
    And baby makes three
    We’re happy in my blue heaven

    We’re happy in my blue heaven


    1 year ago – power out, mark lenard, color wwi pics, free stock photos, 20 ways to say no, knife, razors and laws, vonnegut on writing, newt pictures and doodles, cravings, costume changes, handy freeware,

    2 years ago – pondering public entries, nice gab with the Cs, ADP sucks again, Zombie Recipe, Cat w/hands, gov overrides names.

    3 years ago – 03/03/03, MRE, rudimentary lj search engine

    4 years ago – fake trading floor, Olive Garden screed, Hsien-Yu Pi-Jen

    5 years ago – Owls in Myth & Culture, 3-d fax printing, DogenGeotarget

    8219 –

    Newt’s Due for a checkup… I’ve got to call his doc and maybe get him in there on Sat.

    That’ll be easy because there’s no getting with Danny this weekend, He’s sounding really burnt out. I’ve been really weary recently too. Maybe it’s time for something specil to recharge my batteries, but I’m not sure what that might be.


    Don’t know if the new SL code is more stable but it didn’t crash after the up date… got a nice visit in with HP before beddie bye last night.. not a single reboot!


    Well.. it’s Lent, and many folks are giving up something for personal improvement, even if they’re not of a particularly religious persuasion. What would I give up? I’m starting late, but I’m going to try to totally cut out fast food lunches until Easter. Let’s see how I do.


    Gallery of Demonic Tots


    What two verbs would you like to be known by, dear journal?


    nq060301

    Moment of Lyric: mp3

    I don’t want you
    But I hate to lose you
    You got me in between the devil and the deep blue sea

    I forgive you
    ‘Cause I can’t forget you
    You’ve got me in between the devil and the deep blue sea

    I want to cross you off my list
    But when you come knocking at my door
    Fate seems to give my heart a twist
    And I come running back for more

    I should hate you
    But I guess I love you
    You’ve got me in between the devil and the deep blue sea


    1 year ago – netflix, adp trimming, ann nortons, superhero motivationals, euro-seekers, I scream-you scream, new term, disney fonts, viva broward pix, florida school study, poor applicants,

    2 years ago – Newt-clipso, ADP did poorly her first night, Spiders dine on their master, Gators, lj-spam

    3 years ago – Newt Better, pc virus, pioneer 10, Balloon v1.0, lotr quizzes, cool motorcycle helmets

    4 years agoNewt at the vet pics, shadow govt, stikfas

    5 years ago – CJ adventure (filtered for submissions), up late, newt checkupGeotarget

    8218 – free stuff

    Get a Free USB Flash Drive (unknown size) loaded with information about purchasing Microsoft Windows Licensing. This offer valid only in the US, while supplies last. All you need to do is fill out a short form with your address and answer 4 simple “Windows Licensing” questions (answers below).

    Copy and paste this link to keep this alive longer:
    http://www.microsoft.com/mysterysolved/corp

    Click on the image of the USB drive “Valuable Information – Get Yours”.

    Here are the answers to the four questions:
    Q1. How many ways are there to obtain a full Microsoft® Windows® Desktop license?
    Answer:: 2

    Q2: Volume License Agreements cover Windows Desktop operating system upgrades only.
    Answer: True

    Q3: OEM operating system licenses are non-transferable.
    Answer: True

    Q4: The most cost-effective way to acquire an initial, full underlying Windows Desktop license is preinstalled.
    Answer: True

    8215 – memes and links, memes and links, I’m gonna get me some memes and links.

    Argh, try as I may, I missed free pancake day. I made ’em for dinner last night, out of spite.

    Hey, I rhymed!


    The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, London 1674 to 1834

    A fully searchable online edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing accounts of over 100,000 criminal trials held at London’s central criminal court.

    Now complete! Contains 101,102 trials, from April 1674 to October 1834


    Things seen out and about yesterday.

    DSC01415.JPG

    Dinosaurs at the grocery store (across from the crunchberries)

    DSC01414.JPG

    Body in the back of a truck (sleeping, not dead, I assume)


    Moment of Lyric – (video on band’s webpage– found via qdot)


    Seeed – “Ding”