Virus Game

My Toe

I recently had an ingrown toenail and it got real bad real quick within the last few weeks, so I went to see a podiatrist. He numbed the toe and cut out about a third of the toenail... just like that. It was over in 20 minutes. Since then it's been healing over quite nicely, and I've been wearing a special medical shoe that my mom had in storage. I think I need to get shoes with a wider berth because it feels like my toes are squeezed together when I wear my shoes. It became more evident with this issue because I can feel every bit of pressure on my toe now until it completely heals. Wearing shoes that are not wide enough may be the reason for the ingrown toenails too, but I'm not sure.

So.... if you have any input, please leave a comment. :D

Tilt Maze

Here is a fun addicting game that my friend Laura showed me.

Tilt Maze: Move the red ball with the arrow keys and get it to the blue square. Press control to reset the level

Sudoku is Hard

My friend Zuke sent me this comic and I loved it! So, here it is:

Money at the bottom of the sea

I have recently counted all the currency in the ocean. Unfortunately, I was unable to collect any of it, since the Ocean is owned by the UN under the Planetary Water Systems Act, and therefore, all the money in the ocean belongs to the U.N.

Anywho.. The total amount of currency found in the Oceans of the earth comes to $205,091,652,424.03 (Including foreign currency exchange rates; not including inflation)

Here is the quantity breakdown:

5,484,662,217 Pennies = $54,846,622.17
1,225,223,115 Nickles = $61,261,155.75
4,212,532,253 Dimes = $421,253,225.30
988,212,332 Quarters = $247,053,083.00
1,500,556 Half Dollar = $750,278.00
312,262 Saquejewean Dollars = $312,262.00
845,332 Silver Dollars = $845,332.00
36,515,565 Dollar Bills = $36,515,565.00
112,223 Two Dollar Bills = $224,446.00
52,321,558 Five Dollar Bills = $261,607,790.00
9,155,654 Ten Dollar Bills = $91,556,540.00
875,331 Fifty Dollar Bills = $43,766,550.00
1,568,223,427 One hundred dollar bills = $156,822,342,700.00 (This number is considerable higher due to the number of briefcases found with $100's stashed in them)
856 Five Hundred Dollar Bills = $428,000.00 (These were really rare, and not many were printed. Most of them went down with the Titanic.)
$500,112,332.15 in Pre-1950 Currencies
$46,548,776,542.66 in Foreign Currencies (after current exchange rates)

There you have it... The complete breakdown. (Disclaimer: no this is not real... and don't try this at home. Deep sea diving is dangerous.)

You only get one fortune

You only get one fortune per full game of TaiPei. Pressing backspace to get another fortune is ILLEGAL!

Death predictions

I recently took a Death Prediction test here: http://evil.berzerker.net/death_predictions.php. These usually are not very accurate and give you something to laugh at. But here is my death prediction:

Bryan Schmidt: At age 40 the artificial intelligence software you programmed becomes self aware and devours you. You will be saved to disk though, so no worries.

This is weird because it's right up my alley. How did this death predictor know that I was a programmer, let alone interested in A.I. development? So this officially has freaked me out! Let's hope your death prediction is not as freaky as mine is.

Leave a comment and post your Death Prediction here too. I am curious.

Email Etiquette? New Technologies Change Everything.

40 years ago.... phone etiquette
20 years ago.... fax etiquette
10 years ago.... email etiquette

what now?


We are into the days of blogs and social networking sites. It is a time where, instead of waiting for news and information to come to you, you go out and find it. We are at a point where information is so easy to come by, that pieces of it can be overlooked or bypassed. This is where blogging and social networking come in handy. If something you find is of interest, you can blog it or link to it. Other people that are linked to you or that have access to your site are now made aware of this piece of information. This being said, there are a new set of e-mail etiquette rules I would like to propose...


New Email Etiquette Rules: (Some have always existed, and some are new)

1. Stories (touching, funny, gory) are fun to read sometimes, but not when you receive 20 of them a day. Instead, blog these into a miscellaneous category on your site and tell your friends to check it regularly. Most blogs and social networking sites allow people to subscribe to your site so they can receive notifications when you add something.
2. Chain e-mails that tell you that you will have good luck/bad luck depending on how many people you send it to are an absolute NO-NO! (pardon the all-caps.) No matter the content, this incentive keeps the vicious cycle going. In one year, I received the same chain e-mail more than 10 times (each from different people)! I didn't forward them to anyone, and guess what? No bad luck! Huh! Go figure. haha.
3. Attachments, whether they are pictures or videos, take up extra space and take a while to download. Most Blog sites and Social Networking sites allow you to post pictures and videos at will. Post them there and tell people to just check your site.
4. Work email address = work-related email. Personal email address = personal email. Most companies that issue you an email address have a policy that limits your email usage. It is wise to adhere to that policy. Do not give friends your work email address. A friend that sends a 2MB video to your work email address takes up 2MB of your company's server bandwidth. Then if you forward that to 10 or more other people in or out of your company, that is even more bandwidth that you are using up. This can slow the network down and slow productivity.
5. If you do decide to forward an email to a few family or friends, remove all the header and forward information from the previous emails. Most email programs or services will allow you to edit the original email after choosing to reply or forward an email. Use this advantage to remove all the non-contextual gibberish. This way, your friends don't have to sift through 5 pages of forwarding information before they get to the main content.

So there they are. In conclusion, with the invasion of free blog sites and social networking sites, there is no more need of those pesky forwards and attachments. So... what are these sites that I speak of? Well, you most likely already know about sites like this. The most popular are as follows:

• Blog Sites: blogger.com (the one I use), xanga.com, livejournal.com, etc.
• Social Networking: MySpace.com, facebook.com, friendster.com, etc.

There are many many many more, but those are the most popular that came to my mind. For a list of more, click here.

ABC News: Largest Known Planet Discovered

This is pretty cool news!  I enjoy finding new things out about our Universe.  It is exciting that we are being able to see more and more of our universe as technology increases.  It always makes me feel so small and insignificant, but then it also makes me feel lucky to think that of all the space we have discovered, the Earth is the only place so far that we are able to thrive.

ABC News: Largest Known Planet Discovered

UPDATE: August 29th, 2008. I found the above link to be bad, so I found another link with the same story: Space.com: Largest Known Exoplanet Discovered

Google Wireless Service?

May google offer a wireless phone service in the future? If US Regulators add a certain condition to an auction for a wireless spectrum of airwaves, Google may make the minimum bid of $4.6 Billion! Article at Javno. I, personally, am all for this. With the way things are going for Google right now, and all the new services they keep improving and implementing, I can't wait to see what they will do with wireless airwaves. The possibilities are endless, but we're just gonna have to sit and wait it out.

ViaTalk Free Connect

In all my research of a new phone service I found ViaTalk Free Connect.  It is a service provided by ViaTalk (one of the VOIP companies I am researching for our home) where anyone with a regular phone service can use to make a free 10-minute long-distant call.  Simply go to the webpage by clicking on the link below, put in your phone number, and the phone number of the person you would like to call, and viola!: Your phone rings, you pick it up, and your other party is dialed by ViaTalk.

ViaTalk Free Connect

The Search for a New Phone Service is on

So, as I stated in the most recent post at my family blog, our VOIP service, SunRocket, pulled the plug to all their customers on Monday without warning. So I am in the hunt for a new service. Vonage is still more expensive than I am willing to pay, so we probably still won't switch to the giant of VOIP. But I did find a service called ViaTalk. Their price is the same as SunRocket's was ($199/year) and with comparable and more features! They are also offering free shipping of their Internet-to-phone adapter to ex-SunRocket members! It is looking promising so far. But in the pressure to save more money I am also looking at Skype: for only about $25/year you can have similar service. You lose the 911 feature (which we have with our cell phones), but then you have added SMS functionality which may be a plus... e.g. Heidi at home with Skype phone in one hand, holding Makayla in the other hand, can still be chatting with me while I am at work, and she doesn't have to sit down at the computer to do it :D. So, we will weigh the Pros and Cons and see what works best for us. I will bring my findings to the table as my research progresses.

Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

So far, I believe, this Harry Potter film is the best of the series. They just keep getting better. I think David Yates did a great job with this film and the special effects. I hope he directs the next two as well. The action in this film was outrageous! Especially the battle between Dumbledore and Lord Voldemort: sand, glass, water and millions of other things flying around. It came pretty close to what I had imagined a long time ago what a wizard battle should look like. I would even go as far as to say that it was better than the action scene between Saruman and Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings. Throughout the entire movie there was never a dull moment. There was comedy, tragedy, drama, and tons of action. There were times when I was on the edge of my seat, then moments later I would be sitting back in contemplation or awe. Overall, whether or not you are a Harry Potter fan, or whether or not you have seen the first four preceding films or read the books, you should give this film a try.

Movie Review: Transformers

My wife and I went to see Transformers last night with Steve and Laura. I was going into the movie half excited and half hoping it would be good. I was excited because I have always loved the Transformers cartoons when I was younger, and I have been looking forward to this movie ever since I heard about it a year or so ago. From critic reviews I was a bit hesitant about the film. But, after sitting through each action packed scene, I could decide for myself. This movie was, pardon my internet ettiquette, SOOOOOOO AWESOME! Seeing the father of all robots, Optimus Prime, transform into the 40-foot giant that he is, was exhilerating; and then to see him duke it out with Megatron was even more exciting. Michael Bay did a great job at giving each of the Autobots and Decepticons a personality that the audience could relate to. This is a movie I wil want to see many times again. Good job Mr. Bay!

WOTD: Halo: Combat Evolved

Halo. My favorite game. The story mode in itself has a lot to offer, but the Multiplayer Mode is where all the fun is at. There's nothing like getting together with all my friends and virtually duking it out in MJOLNIR armor wielding Energy Swords and Rocket Launchers.

Ever since November 15th, 2001 my life hasn't been the same. Yeah there have been great video games, but not like Halo. Graphically it's not the greatest, and it's definitely not a historically correct shooter, but it is (in my opinion) the funnest. Reason: Not a lot of complicated controls like some of the war shooters, not too detailed so it allows for easy analysis of your surroundings, and the Warthog is so fun to drive!

Pac-Man skeleton!

A Paleontologist created a skeleton of one of our most beloved Video Game Heroes, Pac-Man! I wouldn't have thought he would have teeth so large... or teeth at all. I kinda figured his mouth was more like a bird's beak. But then again I failed my video-game-zoology course in college.

Link: Geekologie - Pac-Man skeleton

Don't put the bag on your head

WOTD: Space Shuttle Atlantis

NASA's Orbiter 'Atlantis' recently finished another successful mission on June 22nd, so I wanted to dedicate a blog to this fine Space Shuttle. It has flown 28 missions over 22 years (7 of those including docking with the Russian MIR Space Station, and 8 with the ISS). She is scheduled to fly two more flights before retiring in 2010. Atlantis' next mission is scheduled for December 6th of this year.

It's cockpit has been upgraded to a "Glass Cockpit" which features more advanced LCD screens and instruments that helps the pilots navigate easier and faster and allows them to focus on the most pertinent information at the time needed.

I have been interested in Space and Aeronautics since I can remember being interested in anything. It has always been one of my biggest dreams to be able to travel in space. *sigh*

Link: Space Shuttle Atlantis

LEGO Rubik's Cube Solver

Two of my great interests have been melded together in this great LEGO creation! A LEGO machine using the MINDSTORM RIS (Robotics Invention System) helps you solve the beloved (and hated) Rubik's Cube. I have the LEGO Mindstorm RIS 2.0 set, but these plans ask for two programmable computer bricks but the set only comes with one. I will need to see if I can get one via eBay. This model also uses the Vision Command for LEGO RIS, which I don't have either. However, the engineer for this model has included in the computer software a manual configuration mode so you can tell the machine how the cube is configured; then it can solve it without the Camera.

Link: http://jpbrown.i8.com/cubesolver.html

WOTD - Blogger

Wikipedia Link: Blogger (Service)

As my first Wikipedia of the Day entry on my Blogger account, it is fitting that this wonderful service be showcased. This free service only requires that you have a Google account, which is also free. With this Google account there are many other services you have available to you, including, but not limited to: GMail (email), Picasa (web photo album), Docs (web-based Office-style products), Sketchup (3D graphic editor), Maps, Calendar, and the list goes on.

I am still waiting for all of these Google services to integrate seemlessly, but for now, I can make do with what they have available.

Kickoff

This post kicks off the beginning of my Blogger account. It's been a while since I've kept a regular blog and hopefully this will be regularly updated.