Pixelated Plus

Pixelated Plus is a game of Colour.

The object of the game is to change the colour of the squares until the entire screen is a single solid colour. This is done by using the coloured buttons on the bottom of the screen to change the colour of the square in the upper left hand corner and those surrounding it. Changing this square to the colour of those around it, allows it to slowly grow until it fills the entire screen. The ultimate goal is to do so in as few moves as possible.

The game has two grid sizes for varying the strategy of play. Win/loss percentages are calculated for all difficulty types and grid sizes, as well as for the all time best scores.

Acid 3 on Blackberry

Research in Motion's BlackBerry Browser scores a 54/100 on the Acid3 test. While not perfect this is respectable as it actually beats out Firefox 2 and IE8. In comparison to other phone browsers, it beats out Opera Mobile, but is right behind MobileSafari and Opera Mini.

Worth noting is that the BlackBerry Browser doesn't actually even fully pass the Acid2 test, but comes close, and due to the limited spacing is likely to intentionally not be fully compatable.

Hockey Scores and Information

Available for sale through Mobihand is an application called Hockey Scores and information which does exactly what its name implies. The application gives all of the day's NHL scores as they happen. Furthermore this is all done efficiently in a easy to use layout. The only qualification is that at this time the application is only available for the touch screen Blackberry Storm.

To download this useful application in time for the playoffs, visit Mobihand.com

Disney Pictures: Epcot

Epcot's Geodesic sphere

Epcot from the Boardwalk

Matsuriza Taiko Drummers in Japan

Epcot fireworks from the Boardwalk

The Boardwalk at Night

A Smile in the Clouds

Disney Pictures: Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom

White Rhino

Expedition Everest

Crocodiles

Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse in the Magic Kingdom

Disney Pictures: Magic Kingdom

Cinderella's Castle

Mickey Mouse

Pirates of the Caribbean

Country Bear Jamboree

Cinderella's Castle at Night

Obama post election

Now that Barack Obama has been nominated as the President of the United States he has turned his attention away from foreign policy and is concentrating solely on sports. While his favorite sport is known to be basketball his attention has been elsewhere in the sporting world.

On the Monday Night Football the day before the election, Obama mentioned his support for a playoff system in college football. He was not exactly taking a chance by saying so, but now that the election is over he is pushing for this change far more then for any change to social security.

Also since the election, he was video tapped discussing the Arizona Cardinals with John McCain. Obama was very impressed with the passing game they have going, which to any NFL fans should not be too much of a surprise.

Also he has been pushing for the International Olympic Committee to host the games in his hometown of Chicago. Sports has been the thing that the president elect has been most concerned about, but I'm not to say that is a bad thing.

Boys Like Girls - Cute Is What We Aim For Concert

Boys Like Girls, along with opening bands Cute is What We Aim For, and Lights played in Rochester, New York, at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) on October 12th. The stop was the second last on their Verizon sponsored Northeast college tour.

The concert was started by Lights (presumably not her real name), who had a good voice but was unknown to most of the audience. Still she played a decent length set, even bringing out a keytar for a number of songs.

The second band, Cute Is What We Aim For, was well received by the crowd, and had a number of fans who had made the trip from the band's nearby hometown of Buffalo, New York. The band played a mix from both of their albums. The largest crowd reaction came not from their well known hit "The Curse of Curves", but from their old song "There's a Class for This" and their new hit "Practice Makes Perfect".

The headlining band of Boys Like Girls played almost every song that they have, and also performed a cover of Frou Frou's "Let Go". The crowd knew almost all of the songs, and sang along with their hits like "Hero/Heroine", "Five Minutes to Midnight", "Thunder", and "The Great Escape". The lead singer had such a tenacity for throwing his picks into the crowd, that he had to stop the concert part way through, in order to restock. However, with only one album released, the Boys Like Girls ran out of material, and were unable to perform an encore.

Overall the night was a performance of great music, good performances, and a perfect example of why rock concerts should have a minimum age limit.

Version 2.0 of EBU

Ebscer Batch Updater has reached version 2.0 along with a few new features. This is a tool which will automatically update a whole collection of files for you at once. You simply select the files that you wish to update, enter the text you want replaced, enter the new text that you want in it's place, and all of the files are automatically updated in one go.

New features added to version 2.0 include remembering what folder files were last pulled from using the program, and remembering the size and location of the program on the screen. It also includes the ability to create file lists so that groups of files that need to repeatedly be updated together can be quickly accessed. Also the program now includes an update function, so that any future advances to the program can be easily added.

*Download here
*Former versions found here

Summer Olympics

Does anyone know why horse riding (technically Equestrian) is in the Olympics? Honestly this is not a sport. While the same could be said about gymnastics and diving, at least those take athletic skill of some sort. Equestrian on the other hand prefers that you compete well wearing a top hat.

The only reason I found this of course was due to nbcolympics.com and their streaming video of a ton of sports. The time zone difference of the games being in China, makes viewing hard, but the video viewer that nbc is offering is really cool. Not all sports are offered (swimming and volleyball are noticeably lacking) but it allows me to watch stuff like badminton and handball which would never be shown on tv.

The video player that nbc made works well (even on my slow internet connection), and really is only lacking a full screen mode. The other thing is it uses Microsoft's Silverlight. They have been trying to get people to download it and this may do the trick. I last downloaded a beta version of it, and was instructed to download a version 2.0 to view the video. Better still, it works fine in Firefox, which was a welcome surprise for me. No word yet if there is a working version for mac or linix, but I somehow doubt it. The other big surprise is the lack of advertisements. I'm not complaining, but if they wanted to place some adds between halfs instead of an empty field I really wouldn't hold it against them.

Right now I'm watching men's Field Hockey (Germany is up on China 2-1). I never knew that they even had field hockey for men. I watched part of a woman's game the other day and even that was far different from field hockey on the high school level. While they still use sticks that are way to small, the fact that they play on turn rather than grass, means that they can hit the ball a long ways, so the game plays more like soccer than the hackfest that it turns into when played on real grass. The men are getting almost constant breakaways on this fast surface despite the wetness, if this were real grass the entire field would just be mud.

I also saw woman's team archery yesterday (why is that a team sport?). The Italian team lead by Pia Carmen Lionetti (who is kindof cute) beat Chinese Taipei (which is what they say for Taiwan in these olympics). I'm glad I can get the oppertunity to watch this type of stuff, and to be honest this is what I expect all tv to be like in the future.

Ebscer MovieData (Version 1.0)

MovieData is a program that helps organize everything that you would ever need to know about your favorite movies and tv series. MovieData allows you to create your own custom lists, and to keep private ratings about your movies while also seeing what others think of them. Additionally it provides you with all of the background data for your selected movies, and tv shows including cast lists, plot summaries, and writers, directors, studios, as well as runtimes and release dates.

Plans are in place to release a version 2.0 of this program around Christmas time. As such any requests for additional features are more than welcome. A new version of Ebscer Batch Updater is also in the works.

Tweetle Beetles

When tweetle beetles fight there battles in a puddle, in a bottle, with their paddles and the bottle’s on a poodle and the poodle’s eating noodles, they call this a muddle puddle tweetle poodle beetle noodle bottle paddle battle.

Ebscer MovieData (beta)

Finally working on a new piece of software. Ebscer MovieData is designed to give you information about movies from a number of online sources (mainly imdb.com) and allows you to store and compare information about movies on your computer or a local server. The current version is still very beta with version 1.0 expected to be released in early July. Download the beta version here. As it is a beta, please feel free to note any noticed problems in the comments here.

Known issues include

• Will crash if not connected to the internet


• Save functions not yet implemented


• Sort functions not yet implemented

Other improvements scheduled for version one include

• An options menu


• Multiple movie choices will be moved to a popup


• Improve ratings information (especially for tv)


• Better tab ordering on controls

Marian Hossa's Big Decision

Marián Hossa was a critical part to the Pittsburgh Penguins' run to the Stanley Cup finals this past season, but now he is the most sought after unrestricted free agent in the NHL.

The two teams most likely to pick Hossa up this summer are the Dallas Stars, and the Washington Capitals. Both teams made the playoffs this past season and are expected to next year as well even without any big moves this off season.

Read more on This Off Season's Most Coveted Free Agent...

Switchfoot concert

I had the opportunity to see Switchfoot concert at Roberts Wesleyan College this past weekend, and it was pretty cool. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so sorry, but no pics.

The opening band was Mae, who sounded good, but I really didn't know any of their stuff. Most of the (surprisingly large) crowd was also a bit lost with this band on stage, but it was more to do with unfamiliarity then the band not doing well. In fact early in their set they did play a longish instrumental song which sounded really cool, and should really be the background music to some video game. I thought the British band Athlete was also supposed to play, but apparently not, as they were no where to be seen.

Switchfoot came out and played a set that differed surprisingly little from when I last saw them two years ago. Even Awakening was already being played on that tour. They did play a few new songs, and actually started with "Oh! Gravity", and also played "Faust, Midas, and Myself" which is really good live. "Gone" has also changed a bit too. While "Gone" hasn't been played as it appears on record for quite some time now, it has strayed even farther from it's origins and now includes melodies by Beyonce and even a quick detour in Rihanna's Umbrella song. The fact that my favorite band is getting their inspiration from the hip-hop industry is a tad bit disturbing, but after Switchfoot covered Beyonce's "Crazy in Love", I've actually found myself even likening the original.

The best live Switchfoot song is still "This is Your Life". From Tim's opening bass line to Jon screaming through the guitar at the end, that song just rocks, and is awesome to see live. The set was a bit light on the acoustic side of things, but the encore was started with Jon singing "Your Love is Strong", which is a good song, and one I don't actually know yet as I've put off buying the Spring album until I can get it along with Summer. They also played their new Chronicles Of Narnia inspired song "This is Home", for which the movie is coming out in the next week or so.

The concert was alot of fun, even if I was rather far from the stage. Also, someone needs to teach Switchfoot fans how to mosh. I know it's not appropriate for every song, but it would go great with "Ammunition" and even the Sum 41 crowd stood still to sing along with "Pieces".

John McCain is old

Not to turn this into a political blog, but Presidential candidate John McCain is really old. We get it already. Can't we just acknowledge this and move on? It almost appears as if the only reason not to vote for the guy is his age. That's not quite something that his campaign is going to deny, or try to hide. They also know that he is old.

There is alot of discussion and political humour going on in the run up to the presidential election. This ranges from commentary on CNN and MSNBC to comedians like Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Jay Leno, yet the only thing that is ever said about McCain is that he is old. Yes it was funny the first time, and yes it may have been sufficient when there were 20 candidates on the Republican side and you could get away with a single joke. However these no longer apply. McCain is the only Republican left, and is one of only three Candidates left, and the joke has gotten old. While he clearly hasn't been presenting the drama that Obama and Hillary have there has to be something else to ridicule the guy about.

All of these McCain jokes are so old that Ben Franklin first used them...

Green Bay needs a new QB

After 16 years with the Green Bay Packers Brett Favre has officially announced that he is retiring. While some people had been speculating about his retirement for years now, I had never really thought it was ever going to happen. Brett looked as if he was having so much fun playing that I didn't think he would leave the team until he was so old that he got himself cut. But instead Favre has surprised me and is now done with football. Since Favre took over the number one role in Green Bay the Buffalo Bills have had nine different starting quarterbacks starting way back with Jim Kelly. Too bad Favre wasn't willing to play another ten or so years. I at least would have continued to root for him.

Banks

If my bank is only open monday through friday, and only from 9-4 when exactly am I supposed to go? It's not as if I work odd hours, in fact if I did it wouldn't be a problem. The paradox here is that the people who can't go to the bank are the ones who actually need to go in the first place. Without direct deposit this problem would be even far more troublesome.

Here is an (obvious but genius) idea. A bank that is open all day on Saturdays. Why no one has come up with this simple idea before is beyond me. A bank that is open on the weekend would be so convenient to so many people that they would get tons of customers. So, HSBC whenever you want to open up on Saturdays I'll be there to put some money into my account or something...

Su (version 3.0)

After a longer than expected wait, version 3.0 of Su is finally available. Download the latest version here.

Download Su (3.0)

Version 3.0 of Su adds numerous features to the program such as advanced options, and the ability to undo your most recent solve. The new features for version 3.0 include reorganized windows, to better handle the default appearance of the help and about screens, including fade effects for XP users (every program already fades in Vista). The program also cleans up the default save folder of My_Documents/Su if it detects that it is not being used. Additionally there are more keyboard shortcuts, and an option panel, to allow you alter parts of the default behavior, such as turning on or off the new error alerts that warn you against giving the program bad input. The program also remembers it's location on the screen, and gives options for the pattern used for tabing through the boxes. The default tab order is horizontal, to change to reflect the default tab order in versions 1.5 and 2.0 change the tab order option to "boxes".

Former versions of Su are still available here. If you enjoyed this program also check out Ebscer Batch Updater and Desktop Running Back.

The Beginning of the End

After almost a year Lost is finally coming back on the air tonight for the start of season four. It's been a long time since Charlie died and we got to see future Jack, but the show is finally back. Unfortunetlly season three was planed to be down eight episodes to only 16 and is now finding itself down eight more as the writers strike has prevented more than eight from being completed. The Second half of season four could very well be pushed back to the fall unless the strike ends by the end of February.

A few predictions for the next season and beyond, some the producers have hinted at, while some of these are my own random thoughts...

With the possibility to have flashbacks set in the future, we could see somebody's death in a flashback. I think this is almost guaranteed to happen.

Claire is not going to be happy that Charlie died. While this is obvious I have the feeling that this is going to leave her very messed up through the entire season. She won't want to leave the Island anymore, but eventually Desmond will convice her to do so.

Nobody is to be trusted. While this has been true in lost all along, I expect alot of people will be lying at a Ben like level.

Speaking of Ben, my gut feeling is that once this is all said and done, he will turn out to be on of the good guys (like he has always claimed to be). I may not like the idea, but I think it is going to happen.

On the other hand, I'm going to go back to season one thinking and say that Locke is evil. Jack may be wanting to go back to the island, but that doesn't mean that Locke is right either.

Remember the casket in the finale of last season? At the time I guessed it was Sawyer's, but now I'm thinking it might even be some character that we haven't even met yet. (Although there is the possibility that we never return to that scene and we never find out).

With Charlie finally dead, Desmond will lose his ability to see the future. However, he may develop the ability to see the past instead.

Flashbacks will be a mix of future and past depending on the episode, but I doubt that too often we will be left wondering which we are looking at. (I'm guessing the first episode shows the future...)

Remember to follow the most memorable quotes on Lost!

The Cloverfield Question

All of the criticism for JJ Abrams upcoming film Cloverfield is based on the fact that nobody knows what the movie is actually about. The Question though is if that is actually a bad thing? Do people really want to know the entire plot line of the film before seeing it, or would they rather be surprised. We already know that it is a monster movies directed by one of the best in the industry. What more do you really need to know? If you want to see a monster movie or what not, you can go ahead and see the film, and watch it for yourself to find out the details. I actually hate it when they give away a major plot detail in previews, because then you spend have the movie just waiting for the scene you already saw to happen. I really don't see how not knowing the plot to the movie before seeing it is a bad thing...

Win - Win

As the election season starts, leading up to the general election in November Iowa was a solid start. In a win-win situation, both Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama won their respective parties. The primary season is not over, but lets hope that these trends continue. If we get Huckabee and Obama going head to head next fall, than we don't even need to vote as we would win either way.

Christmas Songs

Best five Christmas songs ever
* Carol of the Bells
* O Come, O Come Emanuel
* Faliz Navidad
* Where you there?
* A Merry Little Christmas

Worst five Christmas songs ever
* Santa Baby
* Christmas Shoes
* Baby It’s Cold Outside
* We need a little Christmas
* Grandma got ran over by a Raindeer

Update to EBU

Officially announcing version 1.1 of Ebscer Batch Updater. A new version of EBU is available for download.

Although no future versions were ever planed, a bug has been found and fixed in EBU that prevented the delete key from working as expected inside the text fields. The delete key now works fully in version 1.1 of EBU.

There are still no future version of EBU planned. Version 3 of Su should be released within a week or two (depending on how much hockey I watch...)

Terragen

I've been playing around with terragen some, and it's kindof fun. The program is available for download here.

Desktop Running Back

Officially announcing the release of a new game, "Ebscer's Desktop Running Back". The simple (but fun) football game is based upon Mattel's handheld football game, but for you to play right on your computer.

Download here

Further questions answered in the FAQ. For any comments, further questions, or feature requests for version 2, please leave a note in the comments.

Also feel free to join the facebook group dedicated to this game...

Some XP users will need to download the .net framework from Microsoft.

FAQ -- Desktop Running Back

Expanded help and Frequently Asked Questions for Ebscer's Desktop Running Back...

What is the error about needing a .net framework?
Some XP users will need this, download it from Microsoft here.

How do I control the Running Back?
Use the arrow keys.

I tried the arrow keys, why is it still not working?
You have probably worked on something else. Click on the Running Back to re-activate the keyboard.

I just got tackled, now what?
Press space or Enter to start the next play.

No matter how hard I run into the line I can't manage to break any tackles...
Nope, and that's not going to change. The Defence are very good tacklers, I would suggest running around them.

How do I run around the Defence, they seem to take up the whole screen...
I would suggest draw plays. Start your turn going lateral instead of charging straight into the line. Patience is critical to success in this game.

Why can't I get the Running Back to run backwards?
The running back only goes left, right, and forwards. That's it.

Why are you too lazy to program the Running Back to go backwards?
It was actually more work to prevent the Running Back from also going backwards.

So, I'm still not sure why I can't go backwards...
It's against the rules. Live with it.

How do I throw a pass?
You don't. It's not a running back game for nothing.

Hasn't Tomlinson thrown for like 10 TD passes?
Yes he has, but that wasn't in a video game now was it? You don't even have any Wide Receivers to pass the ball to.

Yea, where are all my Wide Receivers, and Offensive Linemen, and the rest of my team?
I'm not sure, but it doesn't appear likely that they will show up to help you anytime soon. Looks as if it's all up to you.

Wait, Why am I suddenly running for the other team?
You turned the ball over and it's the other team's turn. Ideally you'll have a friend take over and play for the other side.

What if I don't have any friends?
That's ok too. Just play for both sides, trying to pull off the long run is still just as fun...

Can I kick the ball? Punts?
No, only noobs punt.

This is too easy, How do I get more of a challenge?
Go to Options on the score board and adjust the Difficulty.

How do I control the Defence?
You don't, the computer takes care of that for you.

Why do all the defencemen look like they are Running Backs carrying the football? Did someone just fumble five footballs onto the field?
I'm not an artist. At least it's better then a bunch of little red dashes.

If I can draw some better graphics for you would this be fixable?
Yes it would. Hopefully I'll be able to get some better graphics from somewhere (maybe you!) for Version 2.0 of the game.

There is going to be a version 2?
Yes there is. Hopefully featuring better graphics, save/load options, and more difficulty settings, as well as a few other things.

Where can I get version 2?
Look for it hear on this blog. Expect it around late January.

Any chance that version 2 will feature full NFL rosters, realistic physics, a full 3-D environment, and the ability to draft new players?
No, go buy yourself a copy of Madden 08.

Do I have to pay money in order to play Desktop Running Back?
No, but if you want to send me money anyhow that would be cool...

Is it too cheap to give someone this game as a Christmas present?
Yes, it's a free game so it would be. Feel free to tell people about the game though...

I want to tell all my friends about this game, but I am to embarrassed to actually talk to people...
That's ok! I've set up a facebook group just for you.

My computer is telling me the game might be a virus, what do I do?
This program is safe. Some scanners may question it because it is an executable, but downloading and running this program will not harm your computer.

Why can't I play this game on my mac?
Because the game uses Microsoft's .NET framework. Do yourself a favour and go buy yourself a copy of XP.

How about Linux?
Check out something called mono, supposedly that should work. However, I can't say that I've actually tried it.

How was this game created?
I wrote this game myself in C#

What was the inspiration for Desktop Running Back?
The game was inspired by Mattel's Classic Handheld Football game.

Didn't Mattel make a sequel that included the ability to run backwards, throw, and other cool stuff?
Yes they did. Although more realistic, the game wasn't as fun and actually gave you less options each play. No time will be wasted trying to recreate that version of the game...

Is there an option to run the game on multiple monitors?
No, Mike, there is not.

I still have a question?
Ask in the comments, I'll answer it as soon as possible.

What if I have a bug to report or a feature request for version 2?
As long as you arn't asking for the ability to throw the ball, leave a note in the comments.

Rebuild

Switchfoot has just released a new song titled "Rebuild" They have done this to benefit Habitat for Humanity along with their current "Appetite for Construction" tour.

All the tour is involved as the song actually even features Matt Thiessen from Relient k, and Dustin from Ruth.

Official Announcement of "Rebuild"

Lyrics to Switchfoot's "Rebuild"

Oh, Ah, Oh, We're the new generation
Oh, Ah, Oh, With time to kill
Oh, Ah, Oh, We're the regeneration
Oh, Ah, Oh, Rebuild, Rebuild

Brownback backs out

Senator Sam Brownback who would have made an awesome president, droped out of the race yesterday. Brownback practiacally agreed with me one every issue that exsisted. Any how I guess it's up to McCain and Obama now...

Cheese Makes the World Go Round

They say that it's cheese that makes the world go round, and they are probably correct. For some odd reason it is by far the most expensive thing in the entire supermarket. Good or not I don't know, but it's spinning that globe around in circles...

Buffalo Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres start their regular season tonight. As such Tonight is also the official launch of my new Sabres blog. The blog titled Blue and Gold (of Buffalo) will contain all updates and thoughts on the team (and the NHL in general) that formally were showing up here. To kick things off I've ranked the top 26 players within the Sabres Organization, from Derek Roy to Michael Funk.

Ebscer Batch Updater

I present to you the Ebscer Batch Updater (EBU), a tool which will automatically update a whole collection of files for you at once. You simply select the files that you wish to update, enter the text you want replaced, enter the new text that you want in it's place, and all of the files are automatically updated in one go.

* Ebscer Batch Updater v1.0 (EBU) can be downloaded here.
* Download Ebscer Batch Updater v1.1 (EBU) here


Unlike with Su there are not likely to be any future versions as the full functionality is already here. If however a future version is created, it will show up here. Version 3.0 of Su should be released soon...

Uneven Brackets

The United States beat England in the first knock out round of the Women's world cup today. But England should not have lost out so early nor should the US have had to play such a difficult opponent. With the US and England playing in the first round with the winner taking on the champion of Australia and Brazil, it almost guarantees a weaker team to make it to the final. The US, England and Brazil are all easily the top three teams in the tournament. For all of these teams to be on the same side of the bracket is incredibly unfair. England deserved better than a first round knockout, but having to play the US, that what happened. Now the US and Brazil will have to play each other just to make it to the final, where they will receive no compitionn at all. And poor Australia, even if it can beat Brazil, would have to play against the US next, while being just a good as the team that will likely make the final in the opposite bracket. Hopefully they can learn how to seed things better next time around...

Ice Bowl to be announced on Monday

In what is close to being the worst kept secret ever the NHL will be formally announcing and outdoor hockey game between the Buffalo Sabres and the Pittsburg Penguins. Knowledge of the game (being called the ice bowl) has been around for most of the summer by now but the NHL has yet to officially comment on it. Now the NHL has said that they will be at Ralph Wilson Stadium on Monday in order to "make a major announcement concerning a special event". I wonder what that could be? I just hope that the NHL is not surprised when everyone already knows about it, and when the NHL will probably be unable to announce anything new.

On a related not the Buffalo Sabres have revealed their new rbk edg jerseys have been revealed today...

US Soccer

In their recent game against Brazil, the United States showed that they are capable of keeping up with the Brazilians who are traditionally one of the best teams in the world. The US actually lost 4-2, but keep it tied up until 15 minuites left in the game. Take away the own goal and a pk in stopage time then the game is tied. Everyone expected the Brazilians to play well (which they did), but the success and good play of the Americans came as a bit of a surprise to everyone. If they can maintain play like this then they are almost guranteed a top 8 if not top 4 spot at the next world cup. IN fact right now I would rank the US fourth in the world behind only Brazil, Argentina, and Italy. link to youTube highlights

Su (version 2.0)

Version 2.0 of my Sudoku solver is now complete and available for download.

*Download Su v2.0 here

Version 2 adds a variety of features, from the ability to save and load sudoku puzzles, better handling of whitespace, better handling of window sizes, use of keyboard shortcuts, a check for contradictions in input, and the use of graphical icons within the file. Overall usability has been greatly improved.

A few ideas are still around for a version 3, such as the ability to "unsolve" and to keep track of if the current version has been saved or not. However, with less time on my hands it will probably be awhile before the next version is released.

Google News hosts it's own wire stories

In a move that makes google news much more usable google is now hosting their own wire stories from the AP and such. This means that google is now redirecting such stories to their own pages and filtering out repeat results. The main benifit in this is that the site will no longer get swamped by AP stories in which nearly ever paper online reposts the exact same story, burying all but one or two other results. In addition google's page for hosting the stories is much more clean then that of the typical online newspaper. Reuters news is not included, but hopefully google news will filter out any repeats of that and link to only reuters.com lets hope the filter works as good as it should...

Switchfoot (super) Concert

More at the Switchfoot database

Su (version 1.5)

The next version of the SuDoKu solver that I created is now finalized.

Download Su (v1.5)

Version 1.5 has further functionality over version 1.0 in that the solver is better and more advanced, the program doesn't take as long to resolve partial solutions, and tabbing through the blanks now follows a logical order. It is still a windows only app, because it's based on the .net framework.

A start on version 2.0 is being begun. Version 2.0 is to feature a save/load option, and to further enhance the solving ability. Other features that version 2.0 may or may not support are keyboard shortcuts and the option to solve step by step. It will show up here when it's available.

Switchfoot leaves Sony

Switchfoot and Sony BMG/Columbia have suddenly split ways mid-contract. The details (as interesting as they would be are not yet avalible). Anyways this is the end result of a growing riff between the band and the label, that I've been aware of for some time now but have avoided publishing in full for fear of hurting the band. However that concern seems to no longer exsist, so here goes. Following the release of Learning to Breathe (and the Walk to Remember Soundtrack which sold almost as many) Switchfoot signed a five record deal with Sony BMG's Columbia label starting with The Beautiful Letdown. The added plublicity of the major label helped propel Switchfoot to 2.6 million sales, all between the label and the band was good as the band began recording their next album Nothing Is Sound on the road. Switchfoot origionally planing for the title track of Happy Is a Yuppie Word to be the lead single, recorded a video for it. When Sony choose to release Stars as the single instead, Switchfoot accepted this and reshot the same video for the new song. However, Sony started getting on Switchfoot's nerves by leaking the song Stars to a few radio stations, before the band truly wanted to (perhaps to force Stars to be the first single). The real trouble started in September with the release of the album. NIS was found to be released with copy protected tracks that were difficult to access and listen to, and also instaled root kits on users computers. Switchfoot not a fan of DRM on their music, and Tim who has a computer science background quickly posted an elementary way around the protection (burn and re-rip). Jon would later say that the album was "tainted" by this and that for a time they had sony people following them around, scared that they were going to do or say something. Then the very next summer Sony decides that they want to rerelease NIS to boost sales with an added on track or two (assuming Circles and Faust). Switchfoot feeling that it would cheat their fans (which it would) and wanting to release their recently recorded Awakening decided to record and release an EP instead as a NIS rerelease would also likly postpone any future album's an additonal year. Sony ok's the project but then chooses not to release any singles from spring to late november (almost a nine month gap). Soon after the relase of Oh! Gravity Sony drops all support, and Switchfoot goes ahead and promotes and records a video for Awakening on their own. As I've said this has been a long time comming, it's just that I assumed that Sony wouldn't be willing to allow Switchfoot to walk, I'm just hopeing that Switchfoot didn't give up too much to get out...

Limited Time Offer...

Duffield

working on a new website now at campduffield.org. Hopefully the organization can take over running the camp and we can keep it open for next year...

To Be Continued...

Web site after web site insists on doing this, and I don't understand why. Is there any reason that I have to click to page 2 to finish reading the rest of the story? Even if it is really long (which it usually isn't) there is no reason I can't just keep scrolling. I've already had to scroll to read past the first paragraph, so why not just the rest of the story? Come on, who wants to... (continued on part 2)

To Be Continued... (part 2)

(continued from part 1) ...deal with this? Especially when there is no reason for it? The internet is not paper, and there is no reason the page can't be infinitely long. The horizontal scroll is a big no-no, but I have a special wheel on my mouse just for the vertical scroll. A little more text isn't going to mess up any file sizes and the extra click is just really really not needed... thank you, that is all for today...

Not Silent

Here's a new game to not try: Silent Marco Polo. This game does not work at all. You end up having one person wonder around the water with no idea where to go, and everyone else doing a great job of doing nothing. Also you don't even say marco, or polo so the game as a whole is also quite misnamed. Regular Marco Polo still works great, so don't worry.

Avoiding Fees

Bank of America recently launched a new campaign to educate it's users about how to avoid bank fees. It seems that they forgot one easy, and far more effective tip, leave their bank. I don't know if Bank of America is just trying to prepare themselves a bit of "i told you so" defence or what, but they arn't really helping anyone. I got charged over $30 for no reason when I banked there, and was even charged a few fees after I left. I had to go back four times just to get them to close out the account for good. Since then HSBC has charged me nothing for the same service. So here's some real advice to help Bank of America customers avoid fees.

Ducks win the Cup!

I guess they were listening to my previous post... Anyhow they win, although I think McDonald should have gotten the Con Smythe as he did amazingly in the final two games there. Any how I'm glad that they won, and even more glad that ottowa didn't. Anyhow, congrats...

Calling all Ducks

With a defence like Anahiem's how do you allow so many goals like that? You can't do that. You are still up in the series, but if you keep playing like you did in that last third period, you are never going to win again. The senators shouldn't have won the last two rounds, and have no business being in the finals. Please just beat them already, all of this give them a game here and there is just wasting time, and possibly even giving them a chance. You can't be responsible for all the dives they were taking, but you are responsible to get yourself some shots on net in the final 9 min of the game. Better luck next time...

Lost

Season 3 of lost ended yesterday, a few thoughts...

Charlie dies, don't see why he couldn't have run out the door before closing it... would have worked out better. In a related note can the one eyed guy ever die? He almost turned on Ben this episode which would be welcome...

Speaking of which People aren't listening to Ben anymore, too many secrets. They didn't like to see him trusting Locke, and then disobeyed a direct order to kill Sayid and co. Richard, who has been around longer than Ben seems to be trying to silently retake power. I'm now sure that Ben knew nothing of the sawyer tip that was given to Locke. Ben seemed to lose every battle this episode...

Back to Sayid, I was really disappointed to see him surrender, I think he could have taken them. That said when Hurley plows on through Sayid still manages to take one out while tied up, by using his legs... The reactions of Bernard and Jin were perfect. Bernard was like "I hope they don't expect me to do that", while Jin was like "Wow, I really need to learn that move..."

Juliet is now firmly with the main group. Sawyer was always the biggest opponent of her being there, but now seems to trust her. Carl and Alex also seem pretty happy to be with them. Also glad to see Rousseau end the whole solitary thing.

On this family, I have to question if Ben is really Alex's father. Their stories don't match, Ben seems to be Alex's father in only that he stole her at birth.

On to the flashback (although it probably wasn't back), Jack is a complete wreck. There is something about the island that really bothers him, some unfinished business of sorts that he can't go back and fix. He flat out rejects any status of being a hero. Kate meanwhile seems to have moved on. I'm guessing that it was Sawyer in the casket, as he was a loner, and Jack expected Kate to be there at least.

On first watching I was having trouble placing the time of the flashback, and after wards even more. At one point Jack makes a mention of his father, strongly indicating that his dad is still alive, we don't know where his body is but I am fairly sure that he is at least dead. There is the possibility that what we are watching is Jack and Kates second visit to the island, but for that to be the case they've seemed to know very little about it.

Also half way through season 2 I said it would be neat if they got off the island with half a season to go. Now it is looking like that might actually happen, which will be a different, but good story line.

Concert

Saw 4 bands in concert the other day, Red, Puddle of Mudd, Breaking Benjamin, and 3 Days Grace.

First band was Red, who no one had heard of, but were actually really good. Red only got to play 5 or 6 songs though which was disappointing. Puddle of Mudd is really well, known but there set was probably the weakest band to perform. The two headliners were who most everyone was there to see, and both Breaking Benjamin and 3 Days Grace both put on good shows. Glad to see the bands transition well to a live show.

Images

I was playing around with some image editing stuff the other day, and felt the need to post this. Probably the best one I did, although with more time, and some daylight pictures I could probably even make it look better.

Technorati

Technorati Profile

Checking out Technorati, which appears to be a cool blog helper/search tool.

Half way there

Eight down and still eight more to go!

and also this for your round 3 enjoyment.

Switchfoot is Awakening

Switchfoot has released a new video for their semi released new single Awakening. The video isn't as the best ever, but it is still an absolutely great song... enjoy...

SuDoKu

I created a sudoku solver and don't really have anything to do with it, so I figured I'd give it away for free on my website. It's really cool you just type in the numbers and click solve.

So here you go!



requires Vista or XP-SP2 or an older XP version with the .net framework...

Update: for all the most recent versions/revisions look here

Lamest Hockey Game Ever

Congratulations to NHL All-Star game MVP Danny Briere, the game was a bit lacking in defence, but it was more of a friendly match up and was fun. However, the young stars game the night before was horrendous. In the young stars game more or less anything could happen short of playing good hockey. There were constant breakaways, and the clock never had to stop except after goals. Even then the periods were only ten minutes to begin with. On one play three offensive players got down the ice, before a single defender could even get near, the goalie to his credit stopped the first two shots before being scored upon, but I'm blaming the defence. I bet most warm-up skates show more effort then that game did. So that goes down as the lamest game to ever be played upon ice (curling included)...

Counting Candles

In an ever growing attempt to leave nobody out, Christmas is being presented along side Hanukkah, despite Christmas being available as a much funner holiday to everyone. The real problem with this though is that they get Hanukkah wrong, they surround there thing on the holiday with pictures of menorah's yet they all have seven candles. It looks cool, but it's ignorance actually offends the very few that it was meant to accommodate. Any Hanukkah menorah's will have nine candles while the seven candle version is not tied to the holiday. The ironic part is that nobody complains, as these displays are actually for those who want to be politically correct and don't actually care about any of the holidays.

YorkPhoto

Just wanted to suggest YorkPhoto.com to anyone who wants to turn digital pictures into prints. Compared to most photo site this one it dirt cheap, and ships the pictures back to you pretty fast. This takes about the same amount of time and is cheaper then just taking pictures with film and giving it to kodak to print... thats all for now

Not a bad start

The Buffalo Sabres finally came out of a game with out a win this season, but for the record they didn't exactly lose either. You may or may not think that it's a good rule, but technically the sabres got a tie out of their last game. (If you don't like the rule, join a different league), so they still have a nice big zero in the losses column. Not bad, and I'm pretty sure they will win at least the next three as well.

Thank you?

When somebody does something nice for you such as opening a door, the polite thing to do is to say thank you. The person is stopping for a second to prevent a door from slamming into your face and so a few words of gratitude, are required to show the person your appreciation. However, if someone is holding open an automatically opening door is this really needed? Yes they are putting in the effort to be nice, but the door is going to stay open regardless of what they do. You don't really want to make them feel good for what they are doing, because all they really are accomplishing is making themselves look dumb for holding open a door that isn't going to close anyhow. But if someone holds a door open for you, the right thing to do is to say thankyou. Such a moral delema...

Chickens and Eggs

Everyone is always asking "what came first the chicken or the egg?" There are many many problems with this question that I have trouble believing that this question is so popular. My first point is does it even matter? the answer to which is, of course, no. Secondly the very question itself implies an answer that the chicken came first. In asking the question the chicken is always mentioned before the egg. You never hear people ask, "what came first the egg or the chicken?" My final point is the most import. This is in all respects a false choice. The question itself assumes that either the chicken or the egg came before the other. It is entirely possible that both the chicken and the egg came at the same time, rendering the correct response to the question to be neither.

Honestly why don't people ask more important questions like why the sky is blue? That's what I really want to know...

Mute Math resolves lawsuit

Mute Math has finally come to an agreement with Warner Brothers, so they will be able to finally get their newest disc released nationally, and hopefully get some radio play. What took Warner so long to come to an agreement is beyond me. Mute Math never had much to lose, as they were selling out their tours, playing on the vans warped tour, and sold around 50,000 copies of their album without any distribution at all. Why would they not want this band on their label. The album will be rereleased in late September...

Blue and Gold

The Buffalo Sabres have announced that they are "returning to the blue and gold" which on it's own would be ok. I'm actually more of a fan of the newer red and black jerseys, but I don't wouldn't really mind if they returned to the old jerseys. In fact I would prefer that they rotate between their normal jerseys, the old jerseys and even the red jerseys. Unfortunately they will do none of the above. They have said that they are "returning" to the blue and gold, but despite that navy blue isn't black, it isn't really blue either. The proposed new jerseys have and ugly clashing navy blue and yellow, and that isn't even the worse of it. The new logo is some sort of futuristic stramlined half wantabe buffalo thingy. So everyone go write Gollisano a letter and let him know how ugly these are... otherwise we might be stuck with this logo for a few years... (also note the need to resign McKee in that letter...)

The end of the story...

I've realized that there are a lot of half stories on this page, so I am going to end them all up with one big post... Sabres have beat philly in the first round and will be playing ottawa... the Switchfoot concert was amazing as expected... Wikipedia is now over 1.1 million articles (and still growing)... the Firefox trial was a success, and I am using it right now... and finally the music blog is up (see link on the side -->), but that doesn't get updated to often... and thats it!

I've said this before...

How many times do I have to say this? Why does nobody ever learn? It is such a simple concept. Illustrated beautifully in game four of the Sabres Flyers series. NEVER PULL THE GOALIE!!!! In game three the sabres pulled the goalie and the flyers got an extra goal, and an additional 20 seconds or so that could have been used in trying to win the game could have been utilized. But in game four it was even worse, with 40 seconds or so left the goalie heads to the bench and the flyers go from being up by one to being up by two. A few seconds later Brier scored a goal for the Sabres! If you had only kept the keeper in the net it would have been tied and sent into overtime. But no that didn't happen. Why does the NHL lack common sense?

Playoffs

I always don't say that the only thing more exciting then overtime is double overtime, but the Sabres had a two point lead. They did win but overtime is more fun when it is a comeback as opposed to way more excitement then was really necessary. Calling it first here, Sabres in 5 games...

Switchfoot Concert

Concert will now be in t - 5 days...

Summer

First Day of Summer today! Which really just means that I have to go and buy a new pair of sandals...

Pirates of Disney

This July seventh the sequel to pirates of the carrabian is coming out, and by itself it is exciting. The first movie was good and hopefully the second will be as well. However there is some bad news as well. Disney has decided that to promote the movie they need to gut the entire existing theme park rides and rework them to include captain jack sparrow and the others. I'm sorry but that was a good ride already, I really hope that at least keep that song, but either way I get the feeling that the new and improved ride will be junk.

One Million

The English language Wikipedia has now reached one million articles with the addition of Jordanhill railway station. Of course due to trying to make the millionth article more impressive then it really is and including the number of handicap parking spaces (two). Anyhow wikipedia is amazing and this is just another milestone.

Switchfoot's new video

Switchfoot has finally released their 'official' video for We Are One Tonight. Early information about this video said that it was supposed to include three things, a poodle, a ladder, and the colour blue. Well I saw the ladder. Please let me know if you saw the others, although it doesn't really matter. Best part of the video has to be the first 20 seconds or so.

VP's with Guns

As expected the media has gone wild jumping on the no story that Dick Cheney shot someone. However, what doesn't make sense is that a quick google search for 'Dick Cheney' now brings up articles on Aaron Burr, who has an extra letter at both the beginning and the end of his name. Cheney first VP to shoot someone since Aaron Burr, come on, you have to be joking. There is a bit of a difference between a hunting accident and a duel. You knew the press was going to have fun with this story, but this is just ridiculous.

Of all places, Denmark?

Yes, little Denmark is now where freedom is being upheld. To protest the fact that many writers were scared to draw a picture of Muhammad, a news paper in Denmark decided to print a whole page full, to make a political statement for free press. (Link Here). Now five months latter the Muslims are all going crazy. Tolerate drawings? No. Tolerate free speech? No. Off with the hand that drew this! Actually, kill him! No, lets just destroy the whole country! And they wonder why nobody likes them. Who ever thought that Denmark would be the one taking the stand? Well, I have to say that it is a good thing they are refusing to back down to all of the hate coming out of the middle east, as that is what would really make things ugly. Well all of Islam is now blowing things up, crying and (according to the AP) "torching boxes of Danish cheese". So please support free speech and go on to eBay and buy a box of Danish blue cheese.

RSS this!

You can actually get RSS feeds for this blog. Yes, I know what you are thinking, that this blog just isn't that important, and I believe you, but thats the point. If you have firefox it's just one or two clicks, and you can get it with other browsers as well, but for a random blog like this? Well, go ahead try it, you can be instantly updated on my most recent ramblings. So go for, give it a try!

Wikipedia

Today, is wikipedia's 5th birthday!! Everybody go celebrate!! and then go and visit Wikipedia! Ok, thats all that I got for today...

FireFox

Starting a little experiment here by using FireFox as my browser instead of IE. Everyone has always told me that it is way better, so I'm now going to find out. So far I can't really see a difference, but maybe in a week or so I'll have a solid opinion on it. So lets see how it goes...

The Sound of Music

Yes, the music blog is finally up, so perhaps I can get back to working on this one a little more. Anyways their is a link to it both on the side bar and right here. The first review is Better Days by the Goo Goo Dolls which actually came out awhile ago, but I plan I using mostly new stuff from now on.

The Music is Coming!

Last post, I talked about a new music site, well it might be another week or two, as i need my high speed internet connection, but it will come. Just hopeing that Switchfoot puts out another cd soon so that write about that, or at least a single. Well, we'll see...

Possibly some direction

From the beginning this blog really hasn't had any direction, not to say thats a bad thing but, some is coming (kindof). So I am working on a new blog based on music, but that won't happen until the new year. So to keep up with my randomness, here goes. Still like four more weeks until a new episode of lost. That is way to long. and as it is December, a Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night. and get a real christmas tree already, those fake ones are so lame.

I can't believe you're reading this

I decided to look through some other blogs on this site the other day, and I quickly discovered that my page is far from looking original. This simple black background thing with this same template is being used by Millions of other blogs across this site. So I guess I should change the format around a little bit just to be unique. Also I found myself more likely to read the blog if it had lots of pictures, so I think I might put some random picture at the top of all of this, of course you have just finished reading this pointless entry anyways. Now go read the others, trust me they are much better.

December is spoiled

I was going to post about something completely different, until the amazing thing that happened to me last night. I was going to dinner and suddenly out of nowhere there it was. The seasonal drink known as egg-nog. Now of course I went and had some, and I'm not going to describe that in detail because it would be really boring, yet it is important. Egg-nog is by far one of the most important and best tasting drinks there is. However instead of exploiting this to make tons of money they keep it locked up 11 months of the year, only letting us have some each December. This just isn't fair, Lemonade may be the official drink of summer, but even today I could go down to the store and buy some if I really wanted to. Egg-nog outside of the Christmas season? No, it just isn't allowed. Well, I'm going to do what I can to change that. Wish me luck.

>: Hello?

  >: Hello?
>: Who is this?
  >: This is Michael. Who is this?
>: Dad?

Ok, if you don't know what I am talking about, you may as well just stop reading, as the rest of this can in no way make any sense for you. Everyone else realises this is from the closing scene of the most recent episode of Lost, and the cliff hanger that they have left us to ponder for the next six weeks. For those of you who really don't think that this deserves its own blog, I apologize, but Lost is just my thing. So with no further adu, I will try my hardest to explain it all. A number of people don't believe that it is really Walt on the other end, but I see no reason why it shouldn't be. In fact the most amazing thing is that he can type forward, yet can only talk in reverse. Does it make sense? No, not really. However, what I do know for sure is that it was Walt that started this conversation, and had nothing to do with anything Mike may have done to the wires. So in the end the computer has been diverted away from the code and there never was anything that they could do about it. Next episode Locke (who will want to put in the code at all cost) will probably get into a fight with Mike (who will do anything to find his son), and something tells me this is going to be one of those time where nobody wins. Hopefully Eko will come in to save the day.

Abe Linkin

As promised I am finally back, however that doesn't mean that I nessicarally have anything to say. So in a feeble attempt to enlighten you (that is a lofty goal, even if it is pointless), I will produce this quote for you. This is a quote from Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States himself. "How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling the tail a leg does not make it a leg". I know. I am a genius a picking out quotes, but you don't have to thank me it just comes naturally. Now at this point I could pretend that I was much smarter then all of you and explain what the quote means, but I trust that you are smart enough to figure it out on your own. If you can't figure it out go ask your dad, or just do a google search on it or something. You have now finished reading the post, congratulations, if you wish to read it again please divert your eyes back to the top of the page, thank you.

Ready to Roll!

Well, it looks as if I got this all set up by now, however with thanksgiving coming up, it looks like this blog is going to remain rather empty untill afterwards. Hope to have more then. Untill then I hope everyone enjoys their turkey and thinks that thanksgiving is a blast. (I promise the next post will be long, informative, and thought provoking, just have some patience with me.)

Welcome to Ebscer

Just getting this blog thing up and running for now, it looks like its going to start out kind of slow, but have patience I'll get it going...