Analog-Theater 2.0

I just got an email from NCSoft advertising a free week of Tabula Rasa for everyone that has left the game. They want to show us the lastest improvements. So, if you have previously subscribed to Tabula Rasa you can log in for free from 5/2 to 5/9. Woe is me. I won’t have my internet connected at my new place until 5/8.

I was watching Doctor Who last night on the Sci-Fi channel and was shocked by the ending.  Rose Tyler was there.  She didn’t have any lines and was only on screen for a couple seconds, but she was there.  Then she just vanished in thin air.  For those that did not watch the series a couple seasons ago, Rose was taken to a parallel world through a crack in the universe and the crack was sealed up behind her.  Supposedly there was no way bring her back.  What’s going on?  Apparently she will show up again later and questions will be answered.

In other news, the Devs are adding something called Prestige to Tabula Rasa.  It will be a special type of currency you earn from both PvP and PvE.  The currency is then used for Clan Owned Control Points.  This will be added in their patch 1.8 which is not yet out.  1.8 is still a ways off.  They are still in 1.6 right now.

And finally, a month ago today, Brandon Sanderson started work on book twelve of the Wheel of Time.  Before he started writing, he went back and reread the entire series and then Robert Jordon’s notes for the final book.  He said Robert Jordon has pretty much completed some section of the book while in other sections there was only a paragraph for twenty pages.  The release date of this book is Fall 2009.

It is Saturday once again.  It feels like it was just Saturday a week ago.  Once again I ask you, our readers, what would you like us to talk about.  What would you like us to do on this site to make it cooler?

I want to ask one more question, too.  What do you think we should do so that our site can gain the reputation and influence of certain other sites out there and reach the level where video game makers send us copies of their games so we can review them here?

I was a little behind on the news, I almost missed that Gata Kamsky was playing in the FIDE Grand Prix Baku 2008. It’s a 13 round tournament with 14 grand masters attending. They played the fifth round today. Kamksy played and drew against Magus Carlsen. This gives Kamsky three points and puts him tied for second place. There are still eight more rounds to go.

In other news, Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles is being renewed for a second season! Fox President Kevin Reilly announced last week that they are already hiring staff to make thirteen new episodes. Derek Reese (Brian Green) will be returning as a main character in this new season. All the other main cast members will also be returning.

Lost is another series of which I am looking forward to seeing more episodes. For those of you who have not seen this season this is a spoiler alert. Abrams and the writers have done a wonderful job of adding more questions while they answer the old ones. I’m intrigued to see how they plan on dragging out this rescue for two more seasons. And I want to know what happens to the rest of the survivors. Why do only six of them make it off of the island?

Battlestar Galactica is not going to have another season, but this season has been pretty interesting. A friend of mine, who also watchs the show, pointed out something very interesting. Another spoiler alert. In last weeks episode there is a scene when the Ones attack the rebels basestar. You can see Orion’s belt in the background. I think someone is getting close to Earth.

Of course, we have nothing to fear. Even if the cylons do get here, we have Iron Man to protect us. I have not been too thrilled with any of the Marvel Comics that have become movies in the last few years, with the exception of Ghost Rider. I also haven’t been thrilled with any Marvel Comics that have come out in the last few years, either. However, Iron Man looks like it will be really good. Robert Downey, Jr strikes me as the best choice for Tony Stark. I saw him in the previews and before I knew who he was or what movie they advertising, I thought that looks like Tony Stark. So, next week everyone should go to the movies and see Iron Man.

On a different note, Tite Kudo, the author of the manga Bleach, has managed to keep the series interesting. I have been reading the scanlations as they come up. Are not up to date with the Japanese chapters, this is your spoiler alert. He is doing an extended flashback over a hundred years before the series started. It was when Urahara was promoted to the captain and Byakuya was still a kid. He also reveals the origin of the vizards. If you haven’t read it yet, you should check it out.

I was just reading a some news and found this.  It’s a listing of the different ways that the world could end, according to Hollywood, and what we can do about them.  But it appears that even with a rag tag band of Texax mavericks, some Aerosmith albums, and an Austrian bodybuilder turned governor beating up your neighbor, it is still not enough to stop the rabbits.

Don’t forget your vitamin C.

It’s monday and I need to make up something to put here.  I’ve been trying to go through all my worldly goods and get them ready for the move.  Next monday is the dreaded day.    I might not have internet there until the 8th of May (that’s the earliest they can come out to turn it on), but it will be FIOS.  So, I might go a week without saying anything.

In other news, I was going through this stack of magazines next to my bed.  I wanted to get them out of the way before the move.  And I came across an interesting article in Discover.  Unfortunately, I got distracted by something., I can’t recall if it was dinner or Robert, and I didn’t finish the article.  But it started out saying that there is a new theory about how the universe functions and it proves that dark matter and dark energy don’t exist.  For those of you who aren’t as well versed in astrophysics, dark matter is a theoretical substance that has proved to be completely undetectable and composes about 22% of the universe and dark energy is theoretical energy that is has also eluded detection and composes 74% of the universe.  To read more about them, click here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter.  In this article, a physicist whose name I don’t remember is trying to prove that dark matter and dark energy don’t really exist, which would explain why we can’t detect them, and that Newton and Einstein were a little off in their theories about gravity.  I really need to go back and finish that article.  Let me know if you want to hear more about it.

Well, I can’t think of anything else to talk about.

I know I am a few years out of date, bit it appears that we now have only two choices in ice cream.  Here I was getting ready to sit down and eat some of this delicious low fat, chocolate laced, flavored air that goes under the trade name Turkey Hill and I noticed it was only 1.75 Quarts.  (For those of you who are intelligent enough to use the metric system…10 fingers, 10 toes, 10 mm in  a cm, 1000 m in a km, makes sense… go here ) Now, don’t get me wrong, it is really good, even if I am only allowed 1/2 cup, but where is my 1/4 Quart?  Yo, who shrank the box?  So, in the name of science and anger at the brand I went and looked at the other boxes and guess what, every single other box in the freezer section, with one notable exception is 1.75 Qt.   Sadly the only 1/2 gallon or 2Qt box is guess what, generic and seriously over mixed to increase the volume without using more ingredients.  Now, I’ve spent 5 minutes with google doing some research and it looks like this all happened about 6 years ago and only 3 elderly people noticed.  Eddies was first and spun some line about the smaller box being easier to fit in the freezer and then telling the industry that the cost of butter fat had doubled and the 1/4 qt cut in production along with a 10% increase in overmix allowed them to keep the same profit margin without increasing the price, and that only a minority of the customers noticed the cut.  I guess they where right as Eddies was the brand we bought the most often as my young lady friend won’t eat Breyers.  Are they still the only All Natural mix?  

It’s Saturday and you know what that means.  If anyone is actually reading this, then let us know what you want to hear about.

Today I just feeling like venting.  I hate my job.  My employers are a bunch of freaking liars.  They organized a special project team to handle a new customer who is supposed to give us about 500 extra jobs a week, specifically on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  When the customer started giving us the work, where is the special team?  They are all off.  Where is management?  Gone home for the day.  Who is handling those extra jobs?  My partner and myself, on top of our regular work load.  In addition to that, all the other shifts have 3 people, ours only has 2.  I’ve decided that I’m going to put my foot down, things are going to change next week one way or another.  Either they are going to bring in the people trained to handle the new customer or they are going to be even more short handed.

This morning I had an idea to start my own company.  I was working on a business plan for a netflix like company that specialized in anime.  I struggled to work on the business plan while the phones were ringing off the hook.  After about four hours, I found out it was all in vain.  A friend of mine pointed out that there is already a company like that.  And thus, the dream of become filthy rich and leaving this sucky job was shattered.

Just four more hours and I can flee from this prison and go home and play this game that Robert got me, Freelancer.  It’s a pretty interesting game.  The voice actors could use a little work, but the story is intriguing.  You play the survivor of a spacestation, Freeport 7.  You were in the middle of a business deal when the station was destroyed.  One by one, the other survivors are hunted down and killed until you are the last one.  You and your new employer, Juni, must figure out what is going on and escape the military that is now hunting you down.  The game itself is a few years old, but the graphics are still decent.  The space combat is 3D and the maps are bigger than most space games I’ve seen.

And eating lunch. Maybe when I get out of here, I can eat lunch too. There is too much work for me to leave the desk and heat up my food, much less eat it. I’ll just have to wait until I go home. Did I mention that I hate my job?

So, I was making my daily rounds of all the news agencies that tend to be a bit less biased and a bit closer to the political center then Fox News when what do you know, but I came upon this tiny little article. I had seen the headline over at Yahoo a few days ago, but hadn’t really paid attention.

So, the story goes, according to Reuters, whom I trust a bit more, that the man was fed up…(did they say infidel?) ..with all of the politicians and decided to eat his ballot. He has since been charged with destruction of election material or some such fool thing.

Sadly, even here in this country I have to say I agree with him. One of the key problems we have this year is that all of our choices are less then ideal. We have Sen. McCain whose idea of Health Care harkens back to the long lost days of yore when everyone was on their own and insurance didn’t exist. His plan to eliminate the employer tax break for provided employee health care and then deregulating the industry really inspires me, but I don’t know if Canada can support everyone. On the Blue State side of the fence we have Hillary whose Husband is either trying to sabotage her campaign or is trying to save it, I can’t figure out which. But who, in a case of life imitating little Bush, thought that Duck hunting would save her campaign. Then we have Mr. Obama, I honestly don’t have a big issue with him, his ideals or anything else. I just have no idea who he is outside of what his campaign has told me, and I take that with less then a grain of salt. Damnit, where is Mr. Gore when we need him, seriously. A few days ago I watched that movie he made, that one about Global Warming (what else) and I honestly think we should draft the man. If nothing else he could bore the terrorists to death, if you haven’t seen…what was it called…An Inconvenient Truth, I highly recommend it if for no other reason then to experience an instance when you lose interest in your impending doom. On the other hand I do agree with Mr. Gore on the fact that being at the forefront of what is going to be a massive world wide economic shift would probably be a good thing as far as creating jobs, making money, closing the trade deficit, and generally giving the finger to the people currently gouging consumers where oil is concerned. Of course, we have sort of known, well forever to be brutally honest, that depending on one resource for all of our energy needs is like depending on a single commodity for our entire economy. Plain Stupid. Diversification is preached in almost every other segment of the economy, science, even genetics shows us the importance of it. In the words of one of my heroes Eddie Izzard, “You have to spread the genes apart”! Why? Well, in case something goes wrong, like running out of oil, destroying the environment, price gouging, depending on people who hate us to supply us with a vital commodity whose loss would cripple the country causing wide spread famine (no more fertilizer), job loss, transportation shut downs, failure of the power grid, you get the idea. But enough about that, I’m just angry because I had to fill up my Yaris over the weekend

At least I can see why someone would not want to vote, or might consider eating a ballot, but I highly doubt that I could eat the WinVote2000 machine that was used here in the last election.