RedBeard’s Curious Life

Before I had WordPress all set up, I was still ranting away. Please take a moment to reflect on those old rantings. Back then my primitive php skills, combined with massive spambot attacks, meant you could not comment on them, but this fancy blog system suffers less from those problems and you should post any commentary here. Some of those rants have lost their lustre, but the essence of some still survives. I’ll give a brief rundown of how I view each of them now after a couple years have passed:

(more…)

The primary thing to mention regarding the latest season of TV is that NBC is back with a vengeance. Tired of playing 4th fiddle to the other networks, they’ve really got a strong ensemble of shows, especially if you like witty comedy. Among their line-up are some of the best shows currently on the air: The Office, My Name is Earl, 30 Rock, Studio 60, Heroes, Medium, Scrubs. You might find it an overwhelming list to consume, so I’d recommend sampling a little of each and seeing what sticks. Conan O’Brien is still the reigning king of late-night, so tune him in if you’re up late.

Fox also has a decent line-up, focusing mainly on drama. Their current decent shows include House, 24, Prison Break, Bones, Family Guy, and American Dad.

ABC has a few shows that seem to have devoted followings, although I don’t really make it a point to watch them. These include Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, What About Brian, and Ugly betty.

CW (the recent merger of WB & UPN) seems to have only one show worth watching, but it’s quite good: Veronica Mars.

CBS has further entrenched themselves in the realms of crime investigation and reality shows, none of which really appeal to me. I watched the Ghost Whisperer for a while but it’s a bit too melodramatic.

I’d also like to point out that a number of these networks use flash on their websites to display show information. This is quite disappointing, as it makes things difficult to find and doesn’t work with browser history. Only NBC & CBS have non-flash sites, but even they use annoying popup menus to display their collection of shows. Here’s hoping Web 3.0 is better.

Games I played this past fall: Hitman Blood Money, Max Payne 2, Dark Messiah, Dead Rising, Gears of War, Viva Pinata, and the Burger King games.
(more…)

Notes from my gaming sessions this summer.

Outline form, I can’t be bothered to rewrite into paragraphs.
(more…)

I don’t do a ton of driving, as I live quite close to my office and try to avoid rush-hour traffic. Despite this relative lack of exposure, I encounter many incidents that are… less than optimal while driving on the public roads around here. Some straddle the line of legality, some are just annoying habits, and some are shortcomings of the traffic infrastructure. Without further ado:
(more…)

Immortality is a concept that crosses the mind of most people from time to time, whether it be in the form of the Highlander, the timeless literature of Shakespeare, the heinous acts of Hitler, or simply spreading their essence via offspring. Indeed, as all life struggles against the universal entropy to preserve a semblance of order, humans take it to the next level by trying to preserve individuality, especially that of notable specimens. While all of the above approaches to immortality are held in similar esteem, modern medicine continues to make effective steps towards the significant extension of individual lifespan. Since this approach is hardly exclusive of the others and can be explored in a scientific manner, I shall present some material on the topic.

(more…)

I’d like to announce my candidacy for the 2020 presidential election. You might think it a little premature, but this country needs a serious kick back into gear before it becomes totally derailed, and I see no reason to wait until I’m of legal age to begin spreading the word. Our national self-image is so disjointed from reality that it’s become a comedic target, and this rift is only serving to increase our complacency and widen the gap between our peak potential and our current state of affairs.

My platform? Elementary, dear reader. This country needs an engineer to properly address our political and societal machinery that has become rusted and inefficient. Many areas need to be modified, and nothing is safe from reform. Among the areas that need the most work:
(more…)

We’ve had devices called PDAs for a while now, purporting to be “personal digital assistants”, but in reality they’re more like digital address books. A real assistant doesn’t just file your notes and remind you of appointments and force you to do most of the work involved in such tasks; a real assistant does useful work, such as taking notes, fleshing out dictations, compiling information into reports, and arranging appointments around the schedules of all involved. Some argue that with modern organizational software (think MS Office, Outlook/Exchange in particular), the effort of performing assistive tasks is diminished to the level that someone can do the work themselves just as quickly and effectively as telling a human assistant to do it.

(more…)

So, let’s see what’s going on in the world lately…
Litigation, extortion, and gaming ahoy!

(more…)

It seems to be the time of year when TV shows decide to tie up their loose ends and go on holiday, some never to return. I’d like to briefly comment on the ones I witnessed during the past week or so. Spoilers abound, so you might want to stop reading now if you’ve got a finale sitting on your Tivo waiting to be viewed.

(more…)