Gmail added smart replies

More than a MONTH ago. Why didn't I notice this? About time, this was so necessary.

PC Game Developers:

Be smart. Make your games Linux compatible "out of the box." Think about it: there ARE Linux users out there who like playing games (me). There are VERY few games out there that support Linux. The emulation software kind of sucks right now. Wine is free and basically terrible for games. It took me two weeks to get Half Life 2 "working" and even then it was completely unplayable. Cedega appears to be better, but you have to pay for it every month! What the hell is that? Oh, and also, it doesn't work for me at all. What popular game aside from Unreal Tournament 2004 has been released in the last 2 or 3 years that supports Linux? Oh yeah I guess Doom 3 too but that's because id Software is pretty awesome about having all their games playable in Linux. If a developer was smart, they would release a game that would work on Linux, because no one else is doing it. Linux users would pay to buy this game, just as I paid to buy Unreal Tournament 2004 years after it was released, just to have something to play when I'm in Linux.

I just read that Savage 2 is going to have native support for Linux, here. I'm willing to bet that Linux gamers will pick it up just because it actually works on their chosen OS! I think I will too.

Read the news.

There might just actually be life on Mars. Or Saturn. Or aliens raining down in red rain in India.

Just read the fucking news. There's a lot going on right now.

Dumbasses:

Looks like there is a new AIM virus going around. This one is a fake myspace pictures link. Make sure your links are legit before you click on them: ask the people who send it to you to verify that it's legit.

If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer, this stuff installs itself automatically...switch to Firefox. Or quit Windows. Whichever is easier for you.

This is a great new humor site to read every day:

Married To The Sea: a daily comic.

This website comes to the internet courtesy of Natalie Dee, of http://www.nataliedee.com, and her husband who also has a pretty good daily comic site, which can be found here: link.

Game Systems I Miss Dearly:

Sega Dreamcast

America Developing Hot New Ways of Killing

Info here.

People I miss in the media

Billy Crystal

I fully endorse this Vietnamese Public Service Announcement.

Well, here's something you don't see every day. I've always wanted to see signs here like this. We should have stuff near live wire that says DANGER: YOU COULD FUCKING DIE IF YOU TOUCH THIS.

Stickyrice: No Pink Bird Meat

Article about Windows Vista

For those who are skeptics (myself included): an article about Windows Vista, and why it will not suck:

Why Windows Vista Won't Suck

A Fascinating Blog. Real life homeless person has a blog.

Check this out, it's really interesting stuff...

View From the Sidewalk

I don't care about the Olympics. But I did find this interesting:

Here's a news story about a streaker at the Olympics. Big deal, right? Who gives a shit about the Olympics, and who gives a shit about streakers? Heh.


What they don't tell you is that he had "Golden Palace" tattooed on his chest and he was planted there as a marketing gimmick. Clever.

Damon Wayans has finally lost his fucking mind.

Man, that was abrupt. One minute he's Homie The Clown...


then he's doing Hanes Ads:

And now the cycle is complete. He's matured into a fully insane person. Proof here. That's a link, for those of you interested.

You Want To Talk About Some Sick Fucking Shit?

Link. How is that for some sick fucking shit? This guy is disgusting, how does a person get like this? I don't want to describe it, just click the link and read the news story.

Sick fuck.

We should all just take a rocket ship back into the dark ages...

Abortion has been criminalized in South Dakota. Seriously, when the fuck do you hear about South Dakota except for now, when they have regressed into the past like this? Must be a wonderful place to live.

The Mountain Goats. Attempts to find a topic I can educate a class on.

John Darnielle is an extremely cool guy. He came to Philadelphia last year as The Mountain Goats. I missed this show and this makes me sad. I've been listening to The Mountain Goats pretty much non-stop lately. The Mountain Goats are awesome if you read books and / or like acoustic guitars. If you do both, you'll probably enjoy the music that much more. Wikipedia entry to get you started. I'd write more on it, but I'm pretty depressed right now and I have a lot to do in preparation for a speech I have to have outlined by tomorrow.

I have no idea what the speech will be about.

You see, I was prepared for this speech. It's an informative speech, the first graded project in my public speaking class. I was going to do it on the recent issue of Google and censorship in China with the debut of their China-based server that hosts google.cn. I did a lot of research about this topic on Sunday, and learned a fair amount about China's history and human rights in the People's Republic of China. Chinese history / politics are pretty cool. My interest in these topics is piqued. Anyway, today I decided against this topic because I thought it'd end up being a snorefest, and the professor wouldn't like it. So, I thought I'd do my speech on the avian flu which might kill a lot of people. After doing a little bit of research, this is even less likely to work out than the Google speech. What I need is something that has a local scope or that will relate directly to the people in my class. Sadly, none of them are tech-heads so all the stuff that I think about most of my days wouldn't interest them. I know a lot of things. I just need to find one or two that I'd be able to expound upon for about five minutes in front of a group of people without boring them to death.

Math Textbooks and Ugly Folks

Apparently if you're ugly you're more likely to commit a crime. There was a study recently. (link) I'd say this is true, because ugly people are generally treated less favorably than average or "attractive" people. So they get the short end of the stick more often than not, and if this goes on all throughout life, you just might have a social outcast on your hands. But on the other hand, think about the Halo effect. I think that attractive people are less likely to be convicted of crimes. Someone should do a study on that.

Give me your old math textbooks. I want to do some math. I want to learn some math.

Reflection on Television With Emphasis on the Rise of Product Placement

So, I don't watch much TV. I don't really have a TV any more. I went to my friend's house a few nights ago to watch a show that the group likes called One Tree Hill. This show is on the WB network. I actually kind of liked the show. It was cheesy, but it was good, formulaic in a totally benign way, you know? No one was hurt in the viewing of this episode of One Tree Hill. I couldn't help but notice that product placement appears to have taken over television in the time since I stopped watching it. In the show, all of the computers prominently display Dell logos. I can't remember what, but something else was plugged in the script a few times. Sunkist orange soda was blatantly promoted at a concert in the show. This concert featured performances by Fall Out Boy and Jack's Mannequin, who are both real life bands with real agendas that include promoting their recently released albums. Once upon a time it was kind of a special thing when a real-life celebrity appeared on a television show. But this show had two different bands on one episode, and lots of products being sold through the script. I understand that traditional advertising through commercials just isn't cutting it any more, but I had no idea that entire shows were having real-world products spliced into them. Was this an isolated incident, or is this a common practice today? I myself do not know, but after seeing this I kind of think it's the latter. Oh, also there were a few instances of other artists' songs being played during the show, like We Are Scientists. At the end of the show all of the artists' new releases were shown. So let me know, if you watch TV...is this common now?

I almost drew a phallus today.

I was bored in my Linguistics class; shit was just going way too slow. So I started drawing squares. I ended up with a pyramid. A pyramid with testicles. I was scared "oh no I drew a phallus" so I drew some blocks around it to make it look less like a penis. Pictures and more information tomorrow. Writing a paper, loves. Fuck you and good night.

It's (Really) Cold In Delaware. Also, A Great Game.

Like most of the east coast, Delaware was covered in a blanket of snow this weekend. This week sees the aftermath of that snow, and how it will affect shit around here. First thing's first: The University of Delaware isn't closed. It pretty much never closes for weather hazards. I'm not exactly sure what they're waiting for. I understand that it's important that all of our classes are on schedule, because many of them really can't afford to lose even one day. But still, what will it take? Will Gabriel have to come here and toot his horn? Sometimes I wonder.

I woke up this morning and did some driveway shoveling for about an hour. That wasn't so bad. I was just ill prepared for the cold. I had no gloves, and I was newly self-conscious about my shoes because my Mom said they'd be destroyed since they weren't "real" snow boots. I went into the car I was trying to dig out and turned it on to help it thaw more quickly. Neil Young happened to be in the CD player, and working is usually better when listening to Neil Young. I feel like I'm working for Neil himself, and he's watching over me wearing a large, wide-brimmed hat and looking inquisitive, whispering out orders in his ghostly high voice every once in a while. I had to alternate hands at times during the shoveling. I would stick one in my pants by my ass where it was warm, and one would do the shoveling. This was a pretty good system. I can only wonder what people watching may have thought of me touching my ass while I worked.

Gridwars (link) is one of the most awesome games I've ever played. Definitely my favorite game so far this year, and the great thing is that it's free. Supposedly it's a free version of an Xbox Live game called Geometry Wars. I've never played Geometry Wars, so let me compare it to something you may have played in the good old days at your local arcade: basically it's like Smash TV but more fun; you can actually play it more than 10 minutes and not get bored of the concept. Plus, there are really awesome black holes. Here is a link to the developer's homepage where you can see his other games. I have no idea how they are. What I do know is that I'll be playing Gridwars in the coming days.