Portal

Wow. Portal's a rare game, and I mean that in a good way. It's good that it's only $5 or $10, because of its length, but I don't know that a longer game would have been a better game in this case... but the base concept is unique and fun, a rare combination in this day and age.

So, the basics... it's a first-person shooter without the "shooter" part. It's really more of a puzzle game, where you have to exploit physics and the game's unique hook, the Portal gun, to advance through various tests and, eventually, try to escape the testing facility entirely. The Portal gun... well, think of the old cartoon standby, the portable hole. Now, separate the two sides of the hole and make them individually placeable on most surfaces (walls, floors, ceilings and the like) but still connected... walk into one wall on one end of a corridor and walk out another wall on the other end without going down the entire corridor, as one example. A more entertaining example... put one end up high on a wall, put another on the floor, and fall through. The first trip through, you have no momentum, so you just fall from the upper portal normally... the second trip, you end up shooting across the room, because your downward momentum is conserved and transformed by the portal into horizontal momentum.

Apart from the physical aspects of the game, the, erm, characters are loads of fun, too... the test overseer is an AI program filled with corporate doublespeak and a naive underestimation of how not-gullible you are. There are also some "turrets" here and there, which will gladly fill you full of holes... but are abnormally cute for the job physically, and sound so very innocent as they try to put you down.

So, if you've got a machine that will run Portal (I know it's on PC, and I think it's on the non-Wii consoles, too), I'd say it's worth getting... it's a great little game, and you will finally know why "the cake is a lie" is the meme it is today. If nothing else, you might want to Google up "still alive"... the credits song at the end (as sung by the destroyed(?) AI) is on YouTube, and has some fun bits that will come through even if you haven't played the game, I think.

Cheap games alert!

I buy my fair share (and then some) of first-run computer games... but, inevitably, some games that pique my interest don't make it home with me any time soon after release. Usually, this occurs because I have a game that I'm currently enthralled with, and I can't justify spending $50+ on something that will only take up shelf space. Eventually, the "cool, new" game supply dwindles, and the price drops on those other games, and I pick up a few then.

The cycle just got broken a bit. I'm still thoroughly enjoying Fallout 3, but Steam just put their entire collection on sale... including Bioshock and Portal for $5 each! If you've never checked out Steam before, and play games on your Windows computer, now is the time... the sale only lasts through Friday.

Merry Christmas

Sure, the weather here in Spokane has been nothing short of crap for the past week or so, but, luckily, not so bad to keep me from the family get-together. We did the Christmas Eve get-together this time around, and had the usual mix of pleasant surprises and disappointments, so I guess a good time was had by all. Here's hoping you and yours have at least as pleasant a Christmas (or other holiday of your choice)... me, I'm hiding from the snow for the duration, if I can help it.

Netflix pick: 30-Second Bunnies Theatre

Looks like it's been a couple of months since I last praised Netflix for their streaming video service, and especially the Roku box that ties into it. One big reason I like the service is that there are things that I would never "waste" a whole DVD rental on, for one reason or another, that are just there, waiting to be watched on a whim, that turn out to be quite worthwhile. I just spent entirely too long watching just such a raft of fun material, in the form of 30-Second Bunnies Theatre.

This isn't the first time I've been exposed to it... a couple years back, I caught a link to the Pulp Fiction episode and found it good for a laugh, but I left it at that, pretty much assuming that there might be one or two more movies that would be good for the treatment. If only I knew. The basic schtick, by the way, is that movies are re-enacted in 30 seconds, by animated bunnies... it doesn't sound like much, but they tend to be rather silly (slapstick is one of the few forms of humor that will fit comfortably in a 30-second frame). It's especially fun to see the lengths they go to in some cases to maintain the purity of the concept... think bunny Jaws or bunny King Kong as quick examples.

So, well, if you've got Netflix, you should at least check out a few episodes... you'll doubtless find a few chuckles in there. Heck, I even found versions of Borat and Napoleon Dynamite that I could stand to sit through... :)

What's cookin': Krumkake

For any poor benighted souls out there that don't know what krumkake is, it's a Scandinavian cookie-ish sort of thing, similar in form to an ice cream cone. Beyond that... well, they're generally sweet, but have a range of flavors and textures, and might or might not come stuffed with some sort of filling. This recipe makes a crisper, lacier krumkake... and, of course, being only a slight variation on my mother's original recipe, it's my favorite.

I won't go into quite the excruciating detail I normally do on these recipes, mainly because it requires specialized equipment (krumkake iron and form) that, if you are not already familiar with, you will have to first hunt down and, once found, would be well advised to read any manuals included to work out how to best use your gear.

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. butter
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 c. flour
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1/2 c. buttermilk
• 1/2 t. vanilla

Equipment

• small pan (suitable for melting butter)
• food processor
• krumkake iron and form

Procedure

• Melt the butter.
• Add the butter and sugar to the food processor, and combine.
• Add the egg to the food processor and combine thoroughly (looking for a uniform yellow color).
• Add the remaining ingredients and combine into a smooth batter.
• Cook your krumkake as usual.

In my case, this made 18 krumkake, of which three were sufficiently malformed that I had no choice but to eat them immediately... :)

One variant that I haven't tried yet... instead of 1/2 t. vanilla, 1/4 t. of ground cardamom might be tasty.

Right, I'm Facebooked now.

I held off as long as possible... I still remember the days, after all, when a thirty-something guy on Facebook could only be described as "pervy". But when your brother makes the request, whatcha gonna do?

So, since I've already got this spleen-venting space set up, I don't know how much use I'll get out of Facebook... but if you know me well enough to have alternate contact info for me, let me know and I'll see about friending you. I mean, I have no illusions that somebody can connect this persona to my Facebook account if they try, but I'd just as soon not make it trivially easy for anybody, either... :)

I weep for the lost math

I decided to stop off for a take-n-bake pizza on the way home from work tonight... and I happened to have a coupon on me for a large, 3-topping pizza for $9.49. Turns out the regular list price for this item is $12.49. The young lady at the till had to pull out a calculator to determine the difference was $3.00, so she could enter the discount into the register. I've seen youngsters with math problems at cash registers before, but rarely so... pathetically obvious, I guess.

Another interesting video toy

OK, this isn't quite as cool as Roku's Netflix box, but it's got some serious potential. It's a "TV HD Media Player" (link) that helps to bridge the divide between computer content and HD content... but, while the idea's cool, I don't know if the market will be there for it to really take off.

For some time now, people (especially younger people) have been downloading or ripping content from discs, and storing it on a portable device, such as a laptop or external USB drive. Of course, laptops have to be lugged about and recharged, and USB drives you have to find a computer to plug into. Now, in the past, I've seen a USB drive with composite TV outputs attached specifically to get around that problem, but they're a marginal oddity, really. The nice thing about this device is that it's a standalone item that you can leave plugged into a TV, either through composite jacks or HDMI (a good thing in this high-def age we're entering), and plug any USB device into it... hard drives, flash drives, maybe your PSP or digital camera... all sorts of possibilites for existing and yet-to-be-made USB devices are there for the playing.

The problem that I see for this is... who's going to buy it? I mean, the two big uses that pop to mind aren't necessarily for the media-holder. You could use it as a relatively easy way to get digital content to older folks... but I wouldn't think they're all that likely to pay $100+ for something that they don't know how to use themselves, and have gotten by without for years. Another great use for this would be for bringing a movie to a friend's house on a flash drive... but that depends on the friend already having this device, and if they're already tech-savvy enough that they're working with digital content, they may well have a network set up with a centralized storage server and some sort of TV media player already. In either of those cases, if the place you're wanting to show/play something doesn't already have this box, you have to lug this thing, and its associated cables, from place to place, which isn't that big of a step above taking a laptop from place to place... and I know my TV already has a PC input, so that limits the market even further.

It's a lovely idea, and I hope it catches on... heck, I kind of hope that this sort of functionality gets built into later TVs, so you just plug your whatever into a USB port on the TV and run with it. At any rate, I do like how it makes media more portable, especially without that "could lead to piracy" tinge that seems to color most cool new media toys.

I'm in technician hell

I try not to write too much about work... after all, if somebody "not in the know" traced me back to my company, anything I write about here could result in problems for my company, my termination, or both. However, sometimes you come across something That Messed Up that I, at least, can't contain myself.

So, if you were reading this back in July, there was a little rant about a sister company screwing the pooch on a Rather Important system, shutting us both down while I could do nothing but watch in disbelief. Well, it took a few months, but, about two months ago, my responsibilities were expanded to cover that company's machines as well... and what I found disturbed me profoundly. To the best of my ability to tell, nothing had been done in that office in the way of Windows patches since around 2006. I don't feel too bad about writing that "in public" now... as of this weekend, I should have the last of the machines brought up to speed... just in time for the next Patch Tuesday, but that's just the usual fun with Windows.

I thought I had things somewhat in-hand... but then, I started dredging through the assorted boxes that had been stuffed into the server room, separating out the chaff, as it were. I finished my initial sort-and-toss today, and discovered that the last boxed copy of our antivirus solution had been bought back in 2005. I haven't found any indications of online purchases anywhere either... meaning that they've been gimping along for over 2 years on outdated antivirus software. I suspect that they haven't had as much in the way of problems as they could have, due to some Barracuda hardware filtering their web traffic and incoming email... but the email filter subscription expired last month, and the web filter expires in mere days.

Now, for the cherry on top... it's a housing-industry-related company, in tough financial times. The head of this company couldn't scrape together the (admittedly high) renewal fee that Barracuda wants for their email appliance... but, when I approached him about the antivirus issue, his take on the problem was, basically, that the company might not survive the month (!), so he wanted to focus on that problem to the exclusion of all others. So, not only do I have security itches that I just can't scratch, now I've got that "your Christmas bonus might be an unemployment check" theme working for me. Mind you, my "real" boss, the guy running the parent company, isn't likely to let me go easily... but I do have to wonder how long he can continue his Quixotic quest to make his company profitable, especially in the face of his own advancing age and his wife's health problems.

Oh well, I guess I just have to soldier on as best I can for now. I've ridden a company to the bottom before... I sincerely hope that's not where this company's headed, and I think it's still a fair ways down if it is, but I'm definitely feeling less warm and fuzzy than I was yesterday.

Apple says "anti-virus"

Common knowledge for years has been that Macs don't need antivirus software, because Macs can't get viruses. As is often the case, common knowledge is wrong. Macs can get viruses, just like any other computer system... but they have been mostly ignored up until now, because they have been an insignificant portion of the market. Apple just came out with a knowledge-base article (link removed, see below) that should put that hoary old chestnut to rest, going so far as to recommend various commercial solutions to virus-checking needs.

Me, I just went and picked up iAntiVirus, which is free for single-machine use. From what I gather, it only works on Intel Macs, and only those running Leopard... but it only scans for Mac-specific signatures, something that I like (others complain about the potential for "forwarding on" Windows viruses to Windows people... people that should have their own antivirus, in my opinion). We'll see how this program works out...

UPDATE: Pride, thy name is Apple. Apparently, that knowledge-base article has been around for a little while, but, once the Washington Post stumbled across it and brought it to the attention of the world, it was quickly removed, since it conflicted with their marketing strategy. So now, they're not saying you don't need antivirus software as part of your defenses, but Leopard's built-in security mechanisms are implied to be sufficient. Me, I'm still recommending the free antivirus... that whole ounce of prevention vs. pound of cure thing is really nice, especially at the price.

UPDATE 2: Right, well, free antivirus is all well and good... supposing it's well-behaved. I'd noticed my computer being a bit sluggish of late (19DEC08), so I fired off a terminal and ran top. The iAntiVirus daemon was sucking up over 90% of CPU cycles! So, I've gotten rid of that beast, and I don't have any suggestions for a replacement. I guess I'm running with Apple's defenses alone for the time being.