Random Ramblings...

So I recently became aware, thanks to a couple of more hardcore Zelda fans than myself (kotukawi and shawnaduck) of the existence and release of a full length fan-made Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time live action film.

You can view the completed work for yourself here. I recommend doing so before reading further. Spoilers (can their REALLY be spoilers for a movie based on a game pretty much all of us have already played?!?) ahead!!!

( Unfurl scroll... )

Droid was in the tech news again this week after the troublesome autofocus on the camera suddenly started working like it should. There was a bit of concern that Verizon was pushing a silent update over the air for the phone without user consent. It turns out that that wasn't the case, but the reality of what happens is even more bizzare.

See what happened is, there is a rounding error in the autofocus routine. Ok, fine, but how did it magically fix itself for all phones on the same day? Well, it just so happens, that the autofocus routine uses information from the datestamp, and the rounding error occurs on a 24.5 day cycle. Yesterday just happened to be the start of a "works correctly" cycle.

Two questions arise here.
First, where the heck did the 24.5 number come in?
Second, and more importantly, why in the world would you write an autofocus routine that is linked in any way shape or form to what day it is?!?

Apparently a permanent fix is on the way, but I hope it involves beating the programer (programmers?) involved with writing this code over the head with a calander or something.

There has been a lot hype about Verizon's new Android phone, cleverly named Droid. Reviews have been mostly positive overall, but I find myself wondering: What does it offer the consumer that the iPhone does not allready offer (in many cases in a more polished form?) The answer I have come away with is, not a whole lot. Touted features like open development (which frankly is kinda vague) and multi-tasking aren't particularly important to your average consumer. It isn't going to make checking their e-mail, browsing the internet or tweeting on twitter or facebook any better. Their music and media browsing and viewing experience is still great*, in fact the lack of media sync on the Droid (its all drag and drop) hurts the regular user here a bit.

On the other hand what does it offer the geek? Quite a bit, and their advertising reflects this. Open development (in the sense of no limitations on what an app can do at least), ease of tweaking the device to do strange and powerful things, multi-tasking, etc. now become useful selling features.

But as Nintendo and Apple have discovered geeks are a small fraction of the larger group of People Who Buy Stuff (tm). My little sister has an iPod touch, my dad really wants an iPhone, these aren't tech savvy people. To them the Droid features that the iPhone doesn't offer are basically meaningless, so the question for them is, does Android offer the ease of use and ability to do things that the iPhone does. In short, does it help me do what I want it to do. For most people the answer is probably not.

Make no mistake Android is still leaps and bounds beyond the pre-iPhone smart phone OS's, and current non-smart phone devices. If using AT&T is not an option, or not a desired path for you, then the Droid (and other Android phones) are pretty good devices to consider. Although the app market for Android isn't as robust as the iPhones, its certainly growing and should give you most of what you would want, especially as a casual phone user looking for the latest casual game or twitter client.

As someone who is a satisified iPhone user Android, Blackberry, WebOS and their various hardware incarnations are important to me only in what they might do to spur Apple to improve its product. Unfortunately I haven't seen many features or improvements that are compelling enough that I think it would push Apple, so I am left relying on Apple's own internal drive to make great products for the bulk of future iPhone improvements, atleast in the short term. Still, good luck to the Droid, more options and more competiton are definitely to our benefit as consumers.

* Listening to streaming music like Pandora in the background is about the one area I think the average user would beneift from background app support and I hope Apple considers allowing it on a case by case basis for just such examples.

My LiveJournal Trick-or-Treat Haul
krizoitz goes trick-or-treating, dressed up as Mario.
darienjax gives you 3 blue cola-flavoured wafers.
giddeon gives you 9 blue mint-flavoured gummy bats.
includedmiddle tricks you! You lose 6 pieces of candy!
jazzyaleece gives you 13 teal pineapple-flavoured wafers.
juxtapose_42 gives you 2 blue root beer-flavoured gummy worms.
kitty_tape gives you 17 white grape-flavoured nuggets.
llellewyn tricks you! You get a clothespin.
shawnaduck gives you 1 teal passionfruit-flavoured pieces of bubblegum.
theslate tricks you! You get a block of wood.
krizoitz ends up with 39 pieces of candy, a clothespin, and a block of wood.
Go trick-or-treating! Username:
Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern.

http://dkjungle.blogspot.com/2009/08/arizona-pastor-demonstrates-how-not-to.html

It's been about two years since I stopped smoking crack playing World of Warcraft. I played for about two years before that and had a good time. Its a very fun and engaging game, and the lore is impressive. Exploring new areas, taking on new challenges, and playing in a massive game was a blast.

Then I hit the level cap. At that point the only real way for me to progress was to grind daily quests and/or start raiding. Raiding would have required a guild, and since i didn't know anyone on my server, I figured what's the point? Raiding also requires dedicated time slots for gaming. Like a job. I didn't want playing games to be a JOB.

Blizzard has increased the level cap and added new content since I last played, so I could start up with the latest expansion and continue on to the new areas. But eventually i'd hit the same limit, and be in the same position. Hardly seemed worth the investment.

Blizzard being blizzard they wouldn't give up, they wouldn't let go once they got their hooks into me. How could they pull me back in though?

This is how.

The next major expansion will basically revamp the whole game from the ground up. The previous new game experience will be completely redone. Areas will be remade. Quests will be new and different. Essentially it will be a brand new game, one I can start from the ground up and experience all the parts I enjoyed the most.

Jerks.

So yeah, I'm strongly considering re-upping when it Cataclysm (as the new expansion will be named) comes out. I won't play as much as I used to, but I have a couple friends whose guild's I could join up with. Blizzard you crafty beasts. Maybe I'll be able to resist the games siren call. But that is looking highly unlikely at this point.

Yesterday they had Bellevue listed at 111° F, today they have Marysville listed at 255% humidity. I don't even think its possible to get over 100% humidity in most circumstances (it can be done, for example in a Wilson Cloud Chamber, but I'm fairly certain Marysville is not one of those...)

I just love how much fun everyone is having! This is how you do a wedding, its a celebration!

Rather than try and cross post on both my blog and LJ, i'm going to do a weekly post here with links to my recent blog posts for those of you who check LJ more often than other places.

So far this week:

http://dkjungle.blogspot.com/2009/07/cheney-hid-cia-program-from-congress.html

http://dkjungle.blogspot.com/2009/07/you-got-your-google-in-my-os.html

http://dkjungle.blogspot.com/2009/07/amazons-latest-move-is-double-plus.html

I encourage you to comment on my blog itself rather than this post, but i'll take what I can get :)

You know what sucks?  Being in a 4 v 4 game where one of your teammates is AFK the whole game.

You know what makes me want to punch people in the face?  Being in a 4 v 4 game when all THREE of your teammates are AFK the whole game. 

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/1vs100/skillbasedrules.htm

So despite the fact that this is a SKILL BASED GAME, just because I work at Microsoft (in a division not even REMOTELY related to this project) I can't win any prizes.

This sucks.
 

For those of you who don't catch the news that often I figured i'd post this info.

Sarah "I can see Russia from my house" Palin announced today that not only will she NOT seek reelection in 2010, but she will resign next month as Governor of Alaska. Thats right, resign, a year and a half early. Her lame attempt at an excuse was that she didn't want to be a lame duck governor because that would be politics as usual.

So speculation begins:

Health problem?
Brewing scandal?

There is very likely going to be a lot more to this story than what she has let on about so far.

Suffice it to say, resigning part way through an elected term with no rational excuse is going to make easy fodder for campaign criticism should she decide to try for the GOP Presidential nomination in 2012.

OMG HOW DID WE NOT ALL KNOW ABOUT THIS ALLREADY?!?!?

http://www.ffdistantworlds.com/index.php?view=details&id=14%3Aseattle1&option=com_eventlist&Itemid=59

In addition to tickets, for $100 you can get into a meet and greet after each concert that will include Nobuo Uematsu himself!

Who wants to go??? Friday or Saturday works for me?

Man, wish I had the qualifications for this, what a fun job that would be!

http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?viewJob=&jobId=698237

Today is Memorial Day. For many people that means bbq's, a day off work, sales, etc. Nothing wrong with that, however, that is not what the day is for.

I have noticed a lot of people thanking veterans today. I think its always good to honor our veterans, however, that is not what the day is for.

Memorial Day is for honoring those who died in service to their country. So take an moment or two today to remember those brave men and women who gave their lives defending the United States.

A comment by a friend of mine on Facebook today made me have an interesting realization.

The right wing wants us to trust the government when it tells us that "torture is necessary" or "we would only wiretap criminals", basically they want us to trust that given direct power over our freedoms and our very lives the Government will always do the right thing.

Yet when it comes to things like health care, the economy, etc. they tell us that the government is inept, wasteful, etc. Policies that may have some aspects that can be labeled "socialist" are somehow inherently evil. Some of the older ones will quote Reagan "The scariest words in the English la nguage are 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'"

They want us to trust the government in situations where they would have great power and little/no oversight, and distrust the government in situations where they have less power and much greater oversight and transparency.

On what planet can that possibly make sense?!?

Since this came up at Anime Night last night I thought i'd post a link to my blog post which has the video (via Hulu). See, if ya all were checkin out my blog you wouldn't be missing stuff like this!

http://dkjungle.blogspot.com/2009/03/stewart-smacks-down-cramer.html

Getting bored in normal Halo 3 multiplayer games? Create your own challenges! For example, on Sand Trap you can try to flip over one of the Elephants. Yes its possible, I've done it once. I'm trying to see if I can do it again :)