Category: Useless knowledge

Information you have no need for. Ever. Usually about me, but possibly about other trivial crap in the world.

Wired’s Vaporware 2007 list

Another year, another vaporware of the year list from Wired. I like these lists, but after 6 years on the list, I think we can just drop Duke Nukem Forever – we all get the point by now.

10. Optimus-103 Keyboard

Last year, we noted that the Optimus Keyboard — an infinitely configurable input device with a tiny display screen on each key — would be a strong candidate for this year’s list because it was promised in 2006. Well, guess what — it never arrived, so the Optimus earns a spot for the first time.

All the rest of the list sucks, except maybe number 4 (Spore). Don’t read the list. Don’t bother. I’ve covered every important vaporware product they put on their list. Hopefully next year Wired will make a better list.

[tags]Wired’s vaporware 2007 list, Vaporware list becoming obsolete or just boring?[/tags]

New Year’s resolutions

It’s that time of year again. Time to make a list of promises to yourself that you won’t keep more than a few days or a few weeks into the new year. What are your resolutions for the year?

I have made the same promises every year for more than 10 years now. So far, I think I’m doing a pretty good job maintaining my resolutions.

  1. Be less tolerant of others
  2. Speak my mind more freely
  3. Point out flaws in others when in situations where they cannot point out my flaws

I have to admit – that third one is a new addition. Previously, I only kept to two resolutions. I’m also going to try to do the whole working out more and eating less thing, but given my lack of willpower on those fronts, I’m not resolving to do them so much as thinking about trying to do them.

[tags]New year’s resolutions, Can you keep your promises better than I can keep mine?[/tags]

Courtroom funnies

A few supposedly true humorous courtroom interrogations for your amusement.

  • Q: How old is your son, the one living with you?
    A: Thirty-eight or thirty-five, I can’t remember which.
    Q: How long has he lived with you?
    A: Forty-five years.
  • Q: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
    A: Yes.
    Q: And what were you doing at that time?
  • Q: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
    A: No.
    Q: Did you check for blood pressure?
    A: No.
    Q: Did you check for breathing?
    A: No.
    Q: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
    A: No.
    Q: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
    A: Because his brain was sitting on my desk, in a jar.
    Q: But could the patient have still been alive, never the less?
    A: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practising law somewhere.

[tags]Courtroom funnies, Interrogation humor[/tags]

Top 10 movie trailers

As of right now, here are the top 10 movie trailers over at the Internet Movie Database. Just in case you want to know what’s coming out in the relatively near future or what others are looking forward to seeing.

Top 10 Trailers Pages

  1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
  2. Spider-Man 3 (2007)
  3. Simpsons Movie, The (2007)
  4. Transformers (2007)
  5. Rocky Balboa (2006)
  6. 300 (2007)
  7. Eragon (2006)
  8. Apocalypto (2006)
  9. Pursuit of Happyness, The (2006)
  10. Night at the Museum (2006)

On the movie front, I’m looking forward to numbers 1, 2, and 6. I may also eventually see 3, 4, 5 (yes, label me a loser if you haven’t already), and 7.

[tags]Top 10 movie trailers[/tags]

Top games 2006 – multiple sources

End of the year review time, hot shot. Here are a number of sites giving out their top XX games of 2006 virtual awards and a sampling of their awards. Check some out and see with which you agree.

Next Generation:

  • 49. Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords (PC)
  • 34. Microsoft Flight Simulator X (PC)
  • 23. LocoRoco (PSP)
  • 4. Guitar Hero II (PS2)

Maxim Magazine:

  • 2. Sci-Fi Blockheads!
    LEGO STAR WARS II
    PS2, Xb, GC, PC, PSP, DS
  • 5. Spandex Gaming!
    GUITAR HERO
    PS2
  • 10. Mammoth RPGing!
    THE ELDER SCROLLS IV: OBLIVION
    X360, PC

Some random guy on Amazon.com:

1. Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Collector’s Edition (DVD-ROM) by 2K Games

10. Black by Electronic Arts (Whaaaaa? Note: Does not match up with the view of most of the rest of the gaming community)

16. Guitar Hero 1 Bundle (with Guitar) by REDOCTANE

CBS News on top portable games:

  • “Power Stone Collection” is a collection of two older Sega Dreamcast games merged into one. It’s a solid and slick fighter that is every bit as fast and fun as it originally was. Retail price $30. (PSP)
  • If puzzle games are your thing, or you enjoy music/rhythm based games, “Lumines 2” will easily fit the bill with more music options and a great price. Retail price $30. (PSP)
  • Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin” will utilize WiFi capability to play cooperative in certain modes, so you don’t have to go demon slaying alone. Retail price $35. (DS)
  • “Elite Beat Agents” is a quirky “touch the screen to the music” game that had me laughing within minutes of playing it! Music and rhythm game fans will LOVE it. Retail price $35. (DS – I just got this game, and it’s addictive)

There are plenty more such lists out there if you take the time to look.  It’s interesting to see how much overlap there is and how many unique entries there are per list.  You’ll see Oblivion and the various Guitar Hero incarnations on most lists, I think, but otherwise it is all up in the air.

[tags]Top games of 2006[/tags]

Gaming industry’s biggest blunders – 2006 edition

I love pointing out the failures of others.  So when I see a site like Next Generation cover the gaming industry’s top 10 blunders of 2006, I have to pass that on.

5. Gizmondo Crashes, Exec Follows Suit

In January the underdog handheld company Gizmondo imploded and threw itself at the mercy of its creditors. At the time no one suspected that the most fascinating part of the Gizmondo story was still to come. In February Stefan Eriksson, former executive at Gizmondo, taught his Ferrari Enzo how to fly on a stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway, slicing the million-dollar car neatly in half, and creating the world’s first performance art re-enactment of the rise and fall of a videogame company.

Of course, it wasn’t really Eriksson’s fault. As he told it, a mysterious German named Dietrich was driving the doomed sportscar when it crashed. Eriksson was just innocently sitting in the passenger seat of a flying Ferrari when it collided with a pole and blood flew off his lip and onto the driver-side airbag. Happens all the time, really.

That’s my favorite.  In fact, the others aren’t even that interesting.  But hey, faults is faults, and I’m all about them’s getting the faultification highlightingism they deservify.

[tags]Gaming Industry’s biggest blunders 2006[/tags]

On Parthenogenesis

Yeah, I’d never heard of it either, but a cow-orker was talking to me tonight about the Komodo dragons which just reproduced asexually, and that sounded like something I needed to read up on. I knew about gender-changing frogs, but hadn’t heard about asexually reproducing reptiles. Turns out it is known among smaller reptiles and mice, but that the Komodo dragon was capable of Parthenogenesis was unknown before this event.

The world’s largest lizard has astonished biologists by being able to produce offspring by an “immaculate” conception without the help of a male.

Two captive female Komodo dragons have had virgin births by a process called parthenogenesis, when an unfertilised egg develops into a normal embryo without being fertilised by a sperm.

I hope this phenomenon doesn’t catch on. I know quite a few females who want children without a male being involved. I hate to think of all the men who will be joining me in my life unchosen chastity when female humans figure out how to do this on their own. Sounds a bit like a Star Trek episode, doesn’t it?

[tags]Asexual reproduction in the reptile world, Men to become obsolete?[/tags]

How to write better

I’m a leftie. All my life, my handwriting has sucked. I’m probably too old to fix it, but I’d like to start working on fixing my penmanship. Can anyone recommend a good way to learn how to improve the mechanics of 30 years of incorrect hand positioning in writing? What can I do to improve the quality of my lettering?

[tags]How do I improve my penmanship?[/tags]