Google Public DNS

I was going to change my DNS over to Google, but using Speakeasy's DNS is faster for me [checked via ping and traceroute].

Feel free to check your connection.  The full documentation is the title link above.  Google's DNS addresses are:

8.8.8.8

8.8.4.4

Castles?

Now if only they were desperate enough to make me one of these at my price range =)

Car Theft

Some of you may remember last year when Edward Vasquez broke into and tried to steal my car from outside of Embers. Lindsey had courageously fought him off, and the two of us have been dealing with court ( mostly cases being rescheduled ) ever since. The defense had even offered to bribe me $2500 to not show up to court. Well, a decision was finally made. He was sentenced to 24 months of probation. Not quite what I expected for a 3rd strike felony, but...

BattleGate

Up to now, I have seen every Stargate episode - of each series.  It is sad that I no longer care if I miss an episode.  Stargate Universe has completely ruined the franchise for me.  I think the concept was doable - but execution was a bit lacking.  Why, for instance, does every episode feel more like an episode of Battlestar Galactica than Stargate?  It's partially the acting, partially the cinematography (if you can call it that), partially the overall look...  If I had wanted to watch BG, I would have rewatched the original (since the SciFi, er SyFy? one sucked).  I expected a lot more out of the Stargate franchise and will miss the enthusiasm I once had for new episodes.

Another Sun service bites the dust

They may say that it has nothing to do with Oracle, but we have all been predicting these things since the announcement....

We regret to inform you that on November 30th, 2009 we will be suspending the zembly service.

More than three years ago, we started this project with the goal of making it easy to create next-generation Web apps. Our original tagline was "Build the web, using the web," and the ideas we were incubating around platform-mediated Web applications, Web API mashups, and social programming were brand new.
We learned a lot along the way. Your confidence and enthusiasm helped us improve the project and do amazing things that we never imagined when we began this journey.
Thank you to everyone who's been with us through the ups and downs. It's heartening to see that many of the best ideas pioneered in zembly have started to appear elsewhere. With your support, we're proud to have contributed to the DNA of the Web.
For more information about the zembly suspension, please refer to the FAQ section at http://zembly.com
Finally, if you have questions, please contact us at zembly-support@sun.com
All the best,
-- The zembly team
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
4150 Network Circle
Santa Clara, CA 9505

Some Mind Control toys

subCONCH using Emotiv Epoc

Force Trainer using NeuroSky

MindFlex

MindBall and MindBall Trainer

Emotiv Epoc Testing

Back in June I ordered my Epoc. It finally came in Monday and having a headache I decided to wait until today to test it.

The first thing I noticed after receiving the package is that the 'tamper seals' were both broken. At least the box wasn't ripped to shreds like most packages I get from UPS. I wasn't sure what to make of that, but since the product appeared to be intact (and the UPS guy knocked and left) I figured I might as well open the box.

The contents of the box included the headset, the cdrom (containing one PDF and one EXE), a USB dongle, a wall charger, a 2-page printed addendum to the installation instructions contained on the CDROM, a warranty card saying basically DOA or not covered and 2 bottles of contact saline. The box was supposed to include a 'hydrator' as well but upon reading the forums I found out that it was on backorder. Emotiv said the box should have included a notice about it being delayed, but that notice was not present. Also, in my box, there was 1 loose felt pad that had fallen off the headset.

I would have really preferred that my $500 investment include a printed perfect-bound manual, but instead you can only access it once the software is successfully installed.

Getting the headset to fit properly was very problematic. It is supposed to work well over long hair, but I literally spent a full hour trying to get solid green lights (which I never managed to do). One of them was black for a good 1/2 hour so I swapped it with the opposite side and the non-functioning one moved to the other side. I eventually got a partial signal from it. I couldn't get a connection at all while having a ponytail in -- I can't help but think this would have worked much better had I been bald.

Here you can see the final signal strength I settled on. I was never able to get all green.

The Expressiv Suite was interesting. It mostly worked ok. The eyebrows worked the best. Winking and smirking seemed to lag a bit.

The Affectiv Suite was by far the most fun. I spent quite a bit of time trying to control the graph. We were able to do things to raise or lower the excitement levels identified by the black line (and thus the orange one at the bottom). The blue, red and green were a bit more tricky.

The Cognitiv Suite was interesting. Here you see me playing with 'disappear'. Sometimes it seemed a little too responsive -- pushing or pulling without me trying. Other times it wouldn't do it no matter how hard I tried. I did eventually get push, pull, rotate and disappear all to work - but only when I had less than 3 enabled at a time.

Unfortunately, it appears that I will no longer be able to practice as the unit had completely died in under 5 hours. I tried charging it, power cycling it, resetting the dongle, even rebooting. No luck. Start time 12:30. Death time 5:30. Looking at the forums, it seems to be a common problem and people are saying that we have to send it back via the DOA dept. After waiting 4 months, I guess it wouldn't hurt to wait a couple more to actually have a $500 unit able to do more than be a doorstop.

A few more photos are available at http://picasaweb.google.com/malachid/EmotivEpoc#

No more JavaOne?

According to The Register,  there will be no more Jonathan Schwartz or JavaOne.  I, for one, am not likely to go to Oracle OpenWorld instead... partially because I don't like Oracle and partly because I have no interest in relational databases (how 20th century).

So, for Java to really survive, we need to have something for those evangelists of us that are still around...  what would get the attention of those yet to jump ship and encourage them to stay?

I know! We should start a community run JavaTwo...  say, hosted by a combination of the GDC and Defcon groups?  What do you think?  Would games+hacking+java encourage people not to drop Java?

Emotiv Epoc

Woot!

Dear Malachi,

We are pleased to advise that your order has shipped.  Please find tracking details enclosed.

We thank you for your patience and look forward to working with you.

Regards,

Emotiv Customer Service Team

Emotiv Systems Inc.

Aion Legion: Discord

So for those of you who are going to be playing Aion, I am starting a legion (Discord) for Elyos on the Nezekan server. Feel free to come join us =)


Update: We have changed to the Yustiel server due to Nezekan being changed to a GMT+10 server.

Where were they when I was younger?

I saw this synopsis on Slashdot and couldn't resist sharing:

"In Manhattan this fall, a batch of lucky sixth-graders will start at Quest To Learn, the first public school in the US with a curriculum built around playing games. They'll play Spore and Civilization, board games such as Settlers of Catan, and learn 3D modeling in Maya and Google Earth as well. Each semester concludes with a two-week 'Boss Level.'"

Cloves

So yesterday, I went to buy a pack of cloves.  7-11 was out and said that they didn't get any in their shipment.  I went to Pauls' Cigars, and he said that they can't get them anymore; all they can get is the new clove cigars (see pic).  I bought a pack and halfway through the first one went over to Timber Valley Tobacco.  She said people have been calling for a couple days asking if they had any cloves left.  She's a clove smoker too, so asked me to step outside and try the two she still had in stock and let her know which one to buy.  She ended up giving me a pack of Splash (free) since they tasted a little better than the others.  She said that the are required (federal) to get rid of all their stock by the 22nd.  No more vanilla, cherry, clove, etc.  Well, except Menthol is allowed -- I mean come on, Phillip Morris isn't stupid enough to hurt their own revenue stream.

I have come to two conclusions from this... 1) The US Govt just created a brand new black market. Yay us.  2) As of the 22nd, marijuana is more legal than cloves.

Now, for those of you thinking "well good riddance smokers" let me show you why we like cloves so much.  This is from Djarum's website:

Djarum Kretek recipe

Casing Flavour compound:
(per 100 parts tobacco)
maple sweet: 0.2
chocolate: 0.2
licorice: 0.4
plum casing: 0.3
coffee: 0.35
dried nangka: 0.35
dried fruit: 0.15
total casing flavours: 1.95

the casing flavours are water-soluble and suspended in:
humectants: 0.7
invert sugar: 0.5
water: 5

Top Flavour Compound (Top Dressing):
Havana: 0.8
Manila: 0.4
Strawberry: 0.3
Pineapple: 0.35
Pisang ambon: 0.25
Clove enhancer: 0.25
Pruimen: 0.05
Aniseed oil: 0.3
Cassia extract: 0.3
Salak cider: 0.1
Vanilla: 0.2
Orange: 0.25
Total top flavours: 3.55

A top-secret sauce containing, among other things: 
cinnamon
jackfruit
banana
vanilla

UPS: Ubiquitous Packaging Slayer

I have talked to all of my friends about these issues in the past, but I figure it is time to blog about it.  I mean, this has happened for *every single package* I have received from UPS for the last... what? 6 years?  Not, in most cases (and sometimes very surprisingly) the contents themselves survive the decimation of their containers...  Even the case of wine survived the fist-sized hole in the side of the box.  Sometimes, as with Autumn's shop, they refuse to ever deliver to the door and I always have to drive to BFE to pick up my package.

This time, I had ordered a box of Caffeinated Root Beer.  Take a look at the pics and tell me if you'd like to try drinking it.