I don't know what any of that means.

I've been busy.

The buildup to the trigger pull on the business has been surprisingly fruitful. I cannot overstate the importance of making use of all your resources. Talk to everyone you know, and let them know you're starting a business, and you're looking for clients and pay for referrals. Help comes from the most unexpected places, and once you start making connections more directly related to your business, that network expands very quickly.

I finally got off my lazy ass and called Walther about the space gun, and they told me they'd send me a fedex label and I need only ship back with a note indicating the issue. I take this as good news since Walther is owned by S&W, and sending my 442 in was free and simple. I guess we'll see.

LameBook is good for more than a few hours of entertainment. The things some people post on public social networking sites make me lose faith in humanity. But then, there are people making sites about it, and people uploading it, and people laughing at it, so hopefully the segment of humanity I should be losing faith in is a small one.

Lua is a neat little programming language. I'm learning it for work, and I like that it's so easily built into other programs, and is frequently used as a scripting language within other products. I think I'll be running into it again in the future. Also, the dynamic tables are cool.

I still try to make use of my twitter, but don't expect any brilliant revelations.

The primary waster of my time has been Modern Warfare 2 (video notes: multiple kills unlock the remote controlled weapons, which are accessed when the player opens the laptop, so that's what's going on there), which I wager has been sapping productivity across the nation and to a lesser degree world since launch. The single player campaign is jam-packed with intensity, perhaps too much intensity. You can get through the campaign in about 5 hours, but when you're done, you'll think it has been longer. Like finishing your first episode of 24 and realizing that all that awesome was packed into a scant 40 minutes. But the real time waster is the multiplayer. Hours and hours (and hours) just melt away. The progress based unlocking of weapons and attachments keeps you going for ONE MORE level or ONE MORE kill. It's really something. But Penny Arcade has a point. I discovered the tactical knife/commando/marathon/lightweight combo early. It's fucking hilarious. Concordantly, the double shotgun guy really IS a dog rapist.

Assassin's Creed 2 claimed the remainder of my gaming time with its flawless execution and beautifully rendered world. All the kinks from Assassin's Creed 1 are gone, and golden mortar has been used to fill the cracks. In addition to being visually stunning, elegantly brutal, and intuitively designed, it has something AC1 didn't have; an ending! And not a shitty one either. Sure they left it open for the next game, but what game doesn't nowadays? Besides, after the ending, you'll WANT to know what's going to happen next. The side collect quests are still there, but they feel a little more connected to the story, and actually have a purpose. I'm talking to YOU, Desmond.

tl;dr BUY MODERN WARFARE 2 and ASSASSIN'S CREED 2

In related news; games are robbing you (SPOILER ALERT for Dragon Age at that link!)

Rediscovering old favorites is always fun.

Dexter somehow manages to outdo itself four seasons in. Seriously; more like this please.

A great video, with perfect music

Current earworm: Parisian Goldfish - Flying Lotus. If you want to know where I got it, you'll have to ask Breda. If you do, I can't recommend watching the whole video. Full disclosure: I watched the video many times. The first few times were for novelty, but after that I kept watching to see if I could reverse engineer the kind of mind that would direct and create such a thing. I mean; what do you say to the actors you've hired to get them to make the faces on the video? And where on Earth do those backgrounds come from? Continued watching actually gave me flashes of artistic brilliance, but that may have been due to my weakened mental state (due to the continued watching itself). Perhaps it's similar to listening to the drukqs album after only hearing selections from the album. You think Aphex Twin is brilliant until you listen to the rest of the album and realize he might just be throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks. (but don't mistake my derision for dislike, I think he's brilliant)

In other news; teenage boys will be teenage boys. It's harder to watch one do stupid shit when you realize that you'd probably have done the same at that age.

I overshaved (overshove?) my beard. I'm down to goatee mode. I think I look weird.

Mishaps Happening - Quantic

direct link

Some pre-thanksgiving awesome.

Irresponsible speculation wins again!

So the news is that my speculation was pretty accurate.

Quote of the poison

Both Modern Warfare games have a kind of escalating win mechanism for people who are performing well, and the "Killstreaks" only get more brutal in Modern Warfare 2 with the advent of the AC-130 or the Tactical Nuke - the latter of which wins games instantly. I resented it initially, until I recognized the core of shame that spun within the anger. As a young man, infinitely worse than the promise of corporal punishment was the shameful trip to the kitchen to obtain "the spoon," a plastic mixing utensil as supple as a hickory switch which was the implement of my torment. Certainly, being bombarded with 105 millimeter shells is bad. But the knowledge that your armed your enemy thus, with your sloth and your ineptitude, unfolds in the heart like a poison.
~Tycho

Also, "Why Penny Arcade doesn't suck Part 3"

Would Obamacare Kill Medical Innovation?

From HotAir

Sorry. I had to make it.

BIPARTISAN GROUP OF SENATORS STAND UP TO BUSH'S STONEWALLING ON TERROR PROBE!

Oh, no, wait, it was Obama's stonewalling, and no one cares.

Think this is just an isolated thing? Think Obama really is CHANGING things after Bush? Read more of these posts here and think again.

Healthcare Hoops: Where the ref is also a player

From HotAir

"That's what I thought."

Entered in ConnectWise

2002 vs 2009

BUSH WANTS NO TERRORISM ON HIS WATCH; STONEWALLS CONGRESSIONAL PROBE!

It's only terrorism when we say it's terrorism!

Oh, no, wait, it was Obama, and no one cares.

Think this is just an isolated thing? Think Obama really is CHANGING things after Bush? Read more of these posts here and think again.

Birds - Emiliana Torrini

Simply beautiful.


direct link

Onion: Ultra realistic modern warfare game features awaiting orders, repairing trucks

I actually picked up Modern Warfare 2 today so this is extra amusing.


Ultra-Realistic Modern Warfare Game Features Awaiting Orders, Repairing Trucks

Interestingly enough, I enjoyed the original Operation Flashpoint because you did things like ride in the back of trucks for minutes at a time, take training courses, and do guard duty. It was a very immersive game that relied very heavily on you making the right moves at the right time, but didn't constrain you to the point that the correct choice was obvious. This also gave you multiple ways to accomplish objectives such as retaking bases, searching the woods for enemies, and trying not to get fucking killed all the damn time.

Quote of the truth about handguns

I put 30K rounds through my $300 (in 1994) Ruger P-89 with only one trip to the factory for repair and it only misbehaved when I used non-factory magazines, crappy Egyptian military surplus ammo, or it was extremely dirty. The $2000 STI has had numerous repairs with about the same number of rounds through it and the Gun Blog 45 has the paint wearing off and the LDA trigger is a piece of crap.

Sometimes I hate my guns.
~Joe

"Woke up in a car

that was tokyo drifting everywhere."

Suicide more likely for census worker hanged with "fed" on chest

Yahoo News: AP sources: Suicide eyed in Ky. census worker case

Interesting.

I was wondering what was happening with this case.

My first guess may turn out to be accurate.

Tremendous Ca. parole failures allow 18 year-long kidnap and rape of 11 year old girl

Criminal.

Absolutely criminal.

What's worst is the knowledge that heads will not roll for this.

The parole system is a giant amorphous blob of buildings, cars, paper, computers, and lastly, people. You'd have better luck trying to nail jello to the wall.

Disgusting.

Absolutely disgusting.

Cyanide and Happiness: Waiting For The Bus

A tragedy that should have been averted

SB Sun: Three-year-old found gun, shot himself in face

RIALTO - A 41-year-old grandmother is the center of a police and Child Protective Services investigation after the woman's 3-year-old grandson got ahold of a .22-caliber handgun and shot himself in the face.

Leaving a firearm where it can be accessed by children who have no firearm safety instruction is an accident waiting to happen.

The law calls it criminal negligence, but it's just stupid. Now a child is gone because of this woman.

Quote of the Debt

I'm not convinced the majority of people are up to the task yet we protect them from their own stupidity almost as if they were children who would grow up someday. I sometimes see a future where the system collapses and Darwin collects on a massive debt we have been accumulating for the last 100 years. It would have been far, far better in so many ways to pay off Darwin in regular installments than to have the Grim Reaper swing his scythe in such a broad swath as I sometimes see as plausible.
~Joe Huffman

A quote of the day off of a different quote of a day. Very meta.