A Wii bit of common sense

http://videogames.yahoo.com/ongoingfeature?eid=494785&page=0

I thought it was just me, but when I first saw Nintendo's Wii concept about a month ago, I looked at it and went "pfffffffft, that'll never make it." It's probably good that they are trying to think 'outside the box' (whatever that lame comment means), but it should have been pretty apparent WAY before it went past concept stage that this is a goofy idee for the ONLY source of controllers for a new gaming console. I'd rate it as a GOOD idea if it were an ACCESSORY for certain games, but as the base controller.... no. You can't game for hours (days) with this system without fatigue. Plus you just KNOW that anything this physical is going to bring about product damage. As much as they try to make them sturdy, people are going to break every aspect of these controllers and do it a LOT easier than the pre-production tests would suggest. I'm thinking it's best market will be with young kids and the one guy in twenty who has spare cash after buying his PS3 and wants to be different from his other friends.

So basically, don't put this one on my Christmas list. =)

7 to 1...

Hmmmm, yes... 7:1. That's my score versus Tori's in a little competition we engaged in over the weekend. Fair to say I whooped her ass, eh? And what tpye of competition might this have been? Push-up contest? Holding your breath? Who can last longest without laughing? Who has the best ideas for dark vengeance upon the ex-roomie nutcase? No, none of those.

Connect 4

That's right. Connect 4

I beat Tori a total of SEVEN times in Connect 4 and only lost once due to order of turn as we filled the board and had 2 spots left.

How do you not have a level win/loss rate at Connect 4?


;)

Just messing with you, Tor-Tor!

=)

G-D Junkie 2nd Cousin A--hole......

You know what, I'm going to post this story later. Just mad right now.

Edit: Here's the rest of the story.

We all know my gram: a fragile (not just frail) 90 pound woman 80 years of age. Rob and Tori have never met my second cousin, David. He is the son of my gram's sister, Edith, and he's fought his coke addiction for years. Apparently he's back to it and showed up at my gram's on Monday night. You have to know David. He's a big guy, both tall and a bit overweight and has a VERY loud voice. He could intimidate other guys. And he definitely intimidated my gram. Basically, he went over there looking for money. Money from a woman who has none. Money not freely given, but coerced. Stolen. Robbery. Yes, she did go to her room to get money. Because she couldn't stop him if she tried, and she wasn't about to get him going since he was already in a chemically altered state. And he followed her into the bedroom. With his newfound $27, he took off and tore up the grass in her yard and left a one-legged burnout on her driveway in his haste to get away from the crime.

She's ok. Very shaken, but ok.

The rest of us are spitting nails.

With an ex-cop, an ex-soldier and three large grandsons among that group, David would do well never to return to her house. We're taking care of the legal side of it already.

Drug addiction is a bad thing. Just look at what it's made this guy do to his elderly aunt. It's already causing a minor rift in the family, which, honestly, given what happened I don't give a rat's ass if we never see anyone from his side of the family again. I imagine we all feel as violated as my gram does in this and that we could have been there to ward this jerk off.

As an indirect result of this, I feel motivated to go back and get my pistol permit. It just makes more sense now than it did before.

Get Your Turkey On!

When people used to get excited over the Thanksgiving Day games, I thought all the talk of strategy and olympian feats was in reference to figuring out how to stuff all the turkey and other goodies into your belly.... TWICE!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope you all enjoy the food, family and the multiple doses of triptofan.

BEFORE


AFTER

9/11 Vids

I've watched or read about all the conspiracy theory ideas surrounding 9/11 at one time or another. Some catch my interest, others are pure fantasy. Decide for yourself which ones you want to buy into. Such as the tower... how DID they come down? Any answer remains a theory, no one has defined the precise cause. The damage done to the basement I consider to be done by the falling mass of the buildings accelerating towards the ground. That's MY theory. But my question is why some of the support girders DO look like they were surgically cut by a detonation... not torn and twisted. I find that curious, but I am not a structural engineer and can't answer it for myself.

The only one that does raise flags in my head is the Pentagon. I side firmly with the results of the top video... at those speeds an aircraft will disintegrate. I've seen impact photos of airliners going straight in and there is nothing left, just a few tiny pieces here or there, and not much of a crater. So while I consider it totally plausible that an aircraft can hit the building and leave little by way of large easily identifiable remains, I find it extremely hard to believe that a 757 can function with the same strength as a Bunker Buster, penetrating to the third ring of the Pentagon. We saw the planes penetrate the WTC towers and the flames come out the other side. Those buildings had structural parts in the outter walls and within, but just glass and common building material elsehwere. Essentially, those planes hit a bird cage. But the Pentagon is not a bird cage. It was designed and built during the Cold War to sustain a direct nuclear blast. That is not to say that anyone above ground would survive such a blast, but that the structure is designed not to take the heaviest hit there is. The Pentagon is a hardened target as well as a bunker... or at the very least, consider it a modern building designed with extreme durability in mind. I can imagine the plane breaking the outter wall and destroying the interior and collapsing through the back of that first ring. But the Pentagon has 5 rings, each with two walls of reinforced concrete... similar to the top video (just not as thick). There is NO WAY a 757, which disintegrated to the point of leaving no debris outside the building.... could possibly have the inertia or the density required to punch through FOUR reinforced walls AND punch another 16 foot hole in a 5th. Imagine yourself throwing a tent stake into the ground. The tip hits and it sticks. If you throw it really hard, it makes a satisfying noise, but doesn't go too much deeper. The effect the plane had on the Pentagon is like you tossing the stake down and having it lodge 2/3 of it's length into the solid dirt. Not likely!

At least, IMO.

COMPARE 9/11 WITH THIS JET HITTING A CONCRETE WALL AT 500MPH

GOVERNMENT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR PENTAGON CRASH! (PT 1)

GOVERNMENT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR PENTAGON CRASH! (PT 2)

GOVERNMENT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR PENTAGON CRASH! (PT 3)

Aircraft Oddities Examined at Slower Speeds

Four Angle Comparison

Closing Statements

911 pentagon video explanation - 3 of 3

911 pentagon video explanation - 2 of 3

911 pentagon video explanation - 1 of 3

NBC anchor: WTC collapse planned

Never before seen Video of WTC 9/11 attack

U.S. Army General Says Flight 77 Did Not Hit Pentagon

9/11 Truth: Even More Video Proof of Controlled Demolitions

9/11 Truth: NOVA's

9/11 Truth: Explosive Force & Volcano-Style Pyroclastic Flow

9/11 Truth: Thermite & The Case for Controlled Demolition

9/11 Truth: Fires Could Not Have Shredded the WTC to Dust

VERY interesting video!

airstrike

Exit... stage left. Lovin' the language on this one, though may not be work appropriate.

Drop the Bombshell!!!

Apache Takeout

An oldie, but a goodie.

USMC Counter Ambush Chase Shoot-Out

This is how it's done. Run the bastards down and fight fire with fire.

BF2 Signature Test

IN DETAIL:
http://bf2s.com/player/48824522/

A Must-See Destination

Tori and I went down to see her family today in Niantic.. or East Lyme.. whatever! After stopping at The Village Bake Shop for their INSANELY amazing salad (Yes. I Brett Stewart called a salad amazing) we decided to do a little shopping. I truly had no idea what to expect. Perhaps a little book swap shop on the side of a house? What I found was an actual complex of books. Old and new, a veritable TROVE of unique and good books. Even though I didn't go there to buy anything myself, I found it hard to keep my hands in my pockets and my eyes from scanning the titles. The vibe there was pretty cool. Somewhat grainy. Hippie, you might say. But classy. I can see sitting there for a few hours in the summer and reading just for fun. Put this little hidden gem on your travel map and make sure you set aside an hour or two to peruse the paperbacks!

The reason we were in town was to see Kit perform in his school play tonight, "The Boarding House," which was a delightfully humorous show. Normally the understudy for his part, the main actor had a forced absense and Kit filled in for the day. A lucky man indeed, because his character was married off to two of the hotties. I hope he appreciates his position.

We began with the Bake Shop yummies for a LATE breakfast at 2:30, followed suit with some London Broil before the show, then decided to go for broke with some Coldstone ice cream while we watched Nacho Libre with Doug and Katie (who is overly concerned that her tattoo did not come out as planned - it'll be fine. It's a nice one, too!)

So that was Saturday. It is now the wee hours of Sunday morning, and I'll be hitting the hay momentarily. With luck, Tori will stop by for a few hours before heading back to the fort. The rest of my waking time on Sunday will be spent on applying the trade execution strategy dad proposed to me on some practice charts. Fun fun fun... it never ends!

Ah! And here is the link for the Book Barn for those who may be interested:

http://www.bookbarnniantic.com

Note that I am just typing out the links, since Blogger has been showing them as empty space with no link whenever I try to insert them properly.

Edit: One should note that the magic of The Book Barn can also be found in their exchange rates. The books they sell, in any condition, are lower than the fraction of the cost of something straight from B&N or Borders. If you have some old books or novels you want to get rid of, here's where you can go. Likewise, if you're looking to find some unique books - give them a try. I got the sense that everyone who 'worked' there was much more well-read than the average book lover.

Coloring Outside the Lines

I was catching up on some videos over lunch:

http://www.illwillpress.com

http://www.homestrarrunner.com/sbemail.html

Plenty of mild-to-wild humor.

Anyway, found this at the end of one of them and enjoyed messing around. If you're bored, its plenty of fun!

http://www.homestarrunner.com/limo_coloringbook.html

Just click the picture and enjoy!

Here is just one example of my fine artistry.

Late-Breaking News!

This just in. The authorities are looking for...ME!

Executor-Class SSD

Got bored last night and tried to find some pics of the Executor online. I couldn't find anything good, so I took a VLC snap from the DVD and ran it through Paint to get the background the right color. The end result is a fun 1280x1024 background. It's too bad I couldn't find, like, some quality fan art online showing it cruising with the Death Star and the fleet or something cool like that. =/

Anyway, that's what I've got for Tuesday!

Just For Starters.......

Appropriate enough.


That's hot!

I'm posting this littler blurb just to get things rolling for the new week since I don't have too much of substance to report. Ok, other than that Borat! was shockingly funny. By that I mean it was shocking and it was funny. Go see it, you'll love the taste it leaves in your mustache.

Other than that, I need to remember to check my Newegg records and contact Western Digital about getting a replacement drive. I also need to write out my workout schedule again. I think I'll do it on the PC so I'll stop losing the paper. Or maybe print it out and put it in a small 3-ring binder.

Anyway, welcome to Monday. Start your engines!

Recent Stuff

Having found part of the missing team, it seems Mulder remains at large... (yuk yuk yuk!)


A la Caddyshack: Everybody get outta here! There's a lobster loose! Look out, everyone, she's vengeful! Quickly! Cover yourself with that butter and carry lemons just in case you have to squirt it and so forth to repel it! There's gonna be a tragedy! Oh God...oooh...AAAH!


Star performing her rendition of "Danse des Papillons" (Dance of the Butterflies)

Hmmm, what can I post that's new?

Halloween was lackluster. Not many kids came out to the house. It's too bad, because we always stock the big bars and a fair selection of them as well. Now I have to keep it from becoming "my gain" in the waistline. On that note, without exercising I have managed to cut myself back to 201. My BMI is still nowhere near what I like, but it's a start. I have been doing stretches each night - both general stretches and those intended for my shoulder. So I'm feeling a bit more limber. If I could kick this amazingly PITA sinus (7 weeks and counting...) then I would feel better about pushing my cardio again.

Um, hmm. I miss Tori. Haven't seen her as much lately as I would like. This is why I'm trying to expedite the repairs to my POS car. Maybe I'll run down to the store and grab a Chilton's or Hayne's manual so I can find out how to test the sensors with a voltmeter. This means I can spend $30 on the book to be sure that the potential $80 - $200 purchase of an O2 sensor is the absolute correct repair. And if I can get THAT out of the way, then I can see Tori-bear more often!

Investing... what a rollercoaster. The indicators I've culled are good. I mean GOOD. But the key to this seems to be in order execution. I.E. - the error exists between the seat and the keyboard. Taking any position in the market is a 50/50 chance. But I've come to call it Brett's "50-50-90 Rule." Any time your odds are 50/50, you are 90 percent likely to mess it up. No, I'm not messing it up 90% of the time! It's just really slow going.

Ordered a new video card today. My current secondary card is a PCI card, but it has been crapped out since Day 1 giving me the picture on the screen but with funky discolorations. I finally found another PCI card using the same ATI chipset as my main AGP8X card as well as a compatible model/driver so they will work flawlessly together. So I grabbed that from NewEgg today and with some luck it might arrive tomorrow. That would be nice! So I will have the 21.3" Samsung with one of the BenQ 19" on the x850 xt and the other BenQ 19" and the Sony 19" mated to this new card. FINALLY!

BF2 stuff.... I'm almost to the Staff Sergeant rank now. Rob needs to get playing! I need an evil cohort. While playing Warlord last night, I found a new spot to cause havoc from. As a Brit, I zip-lined down to the apartment building near the Insurg Hideout across from the TV building. But I didn't go to the roof, I zipped into one of the balconies on the sidewall. Well... I went through ALL my ammo! From this spot I had direct coverage of the TV Flag, as well as an angle covering over half the wall area along the rooftop. VERY handy! I kept popping their snipers and they had no idea where I was! Later last night, I also played two awesome rounds in Mass Destruction where I commanded. As Rebels, we RAPED the Spetz. They couldn't get across the bridges! Any time one made a run for it, I covered out backfield and popped them.... much to their surprise. Then when we played as Spetz, we broke out early and caused all sorts of havoc. We basically confined them to the Train Yard flag and contained them there until the end of the game so we could raise our scores. That is, we could have capped their flag but we decided to let them keep playing so we could raise our points. LOL I would have been RIPPED if I was on the other team.

Also played a round in Warlord that my team lost. This was after the sniper round. I switched teams to the one with less skill and let someone else command. This team had no chance of winning, since the other team had clanners who preferred sniping. Well, I turned medic and camped the roof of a construction building south of the main combat line at the beginning. Got the Cmdr to drop supplies behind me, too! So I stayed prone and waited for the UAV to paint targets. Then I'd pop up and drop 'em as best I could. I might have done better as a sniper, but the medic kit kept me alive more than the resupply crate. It was fun. I didn't get a TON of kills, but I managed to only get myself killed once while bagging 18 of them. I also kept them from taking out our strategic resources (UAV / SCAN) while clearing anyone trying to snipe the approaches to the Plaza and TV flags. Was fuN!

Rob, ya GOTTA get that knee to a point where you can join in!