Year: 2011

  • Friday Finds – Gingerbread and Satellites

    Friday Finds – Gingerbread and Satellites

    Hey everybody, hope you had a good week.  I was busy being productive at work (and moving to another building) so the links are light.  Here are this week’s posts: Gingerbread on my LG Optimus S – Got a surprise update this week, and it’s working pretty OK so far. Old Game Tuesday – The…

  • Catching Up – TIE Fighter

    The Best Star Wars game poll has shown me that many of you think TIE Fighter is the best of the best.  In a fit of serendipity, my son discovered a copy of TIE Fighter I had bought at some point in the past.  I think I paid a guy who was ‘simplifying’ his life…

  • Mars Simulation Nearing Completion

    Mars Simulation Nearing Completion

    I mentioned this mission back when it started, and now it is nearing completion (you may need a New Scientist login to view that article).  What I’m talking about is Mars 500, an experiment to test the psychological stresses of long-term spaceflight, such as what would be required on a trip to the Red Planet.  the…

  • HTC Rhyme – This Really Bothers Me

    HTC Rhyme – This Really Bothers Me

    Take a look at that phone.  It’s got a lot going for it.  Verizon will probably be pricing it low, and it would fit very well at the low to mid-range of Android handsets.  No 4G, but a better processor than my Optimus S, front-facing camera, a dock with speakers.  Color is odd but hey,…

  • Old Game Tuesday – The Homeworld Series

    Old Game Tuesday – The Homeworld Series

    My review here will be on Homeworld: Cataclysm more than the other two, but much of what I have will apply.  The Homeworld series of games, and Cataclysm specifically, I picked up because they were different.  Unlike the 2D+ you got from some other RTS type games of the era, this had true 3D ship…

  • Gingerbread on my LG Optimus S

    Woke up this morning and was quite surprised to see a major update for my phone waiting – Gingerbread!  That’s Android 2.3 for the uninitiated.  I was a bit surprised, as I figured it had been long enough that I probably wasn’t getting it.  I fired up the install and am now running from the…

  • Friday Finds – Downy Canadian Dinosaurs and Colliding Galaxies

    Friday Finds – Downy Canadian Dinosaurs and Colliding Galaxies

    Hey everybody, hope you had a fun week.  Here’s the posts from this week: Movie Review: Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D – Time did seem to stretch out before me in this, for sure. Old Game Tuesday – Civilization II – *snore* – Huh, what?  I wasn’t sleeping after staying…

  • Old Game Tuesday – Civilization II

    Old Game Tuesday – Civilization II

    Another game that needs no introduction, Civilization II is one of the most addictive games I’ve ever played.  I know friends whose college classes suffered at the foot of it, long before Everquest and WoW would do the same for the next generation.  Civ2 is still a go-to game for me when I want something slower-paced…

  • Movie Review:  Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D

    Movie Review: Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D

    You can file this under “Movies Mike saw so you don’t have to”.  I had a pair of Fandango passes that had to be used by Friday, and this was pretty much the only movie left in theaters that was age appropriate.  ‘Appropriate’ might actually be a stretch, as vomit/fart/poop laden ‘comedy’ isn’t really appropriate…

  • Friday Finds – Robot Octopi and Arctic Airships

    A light week this week, due to the holidays and not being home much. Raising a Reader – Getting boys to read. But that does leave plenty of room for links! Star Wars:  Heir to the Empire 20th Anniversary Edition, a fine gift for the SW geek in your family. A horribly incomplete list of…

  • Raising a Reader

    Michael Forbes, whom I follow on Twitter for hockey stuff, linked an article in the New York Times, “Boys and Reading: Is There Any Hope?” by Robert Lipsyte.  The issues brought up in the essay are boiled down to this passage: If we’re to counter this tendency and encourage reading among boys who may collectively…

  • Friday Finds – Psychic Benefits and the Silmarillion

    Friday Finds – Psychic Benefits and the Silmarillion

    Hey all, hope you had a good week.  I’ll be out of the loop a bit this weekend, though I might actually be able to do my fantasy football draft (wooo!).  Here are last week’s posts: Old Game Tuesday – Star Trek: Birth of the Federation – BOTF is a solid 4X game, considering the…