The Princess Bride First Ed. Paperback (1973)

Is the Nostromo Cheating?

I don't think so. Not unless you take it too far. I have heard different point of views on this subject in the last few weeks and here is my findings:

1) If you do not have one, you think it is cheating.
2) My normal keyboard has the same macro functions.
3) When people see it they say "What is that?", so if you can not identify it, then it can't be cheating.
4) You can't cry foul because a select few people found out about this first and you were not one of them.
5) My own wife calls me a cheater. I will buy her a nostromo and see how it goes from there.

So in short...

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I'm upgrading my monitor. What is too big?

     I'm willing to find out. As you have seen in the previous posts, i have been delusional about my fascination with upgrading my computer. I started to think.. what makes a computer really, really good?

1) You have your tower, which houses all the good bits: Hard drive, ram, video and sound cards, and  processor(s). All the things that make your computer fast and ripe for gaming rape. Less important things abound, but are ignored for the sake of this article.
2) The keyboard and mouse take control of your virtual command center in which to launch imaginary nuclear attacks. These are the tools in which gauge your speed and accuracy, as well as limit you (or not) to human ability and skill.
3) The speakers that you have on or around your desk provide you with a tangible sense of reality that with the correct speakers, you can actually feel.

4) Your monitor/screen. The portal to everything mentioned above. And most likely the last thing to be upgraded on any computer system.

     Why are monitors the last things to be upgraded, when it is obviously the first or second most important component? I think it's because they last so long. People wait for their old one to burn up before getting a new one. I don't know anyone that has a really expensive monitor. They buy the biggest one that was on sale for the least amount of money over $100. I do i blame them? No, i cant say i do really, only because I'm in that majority of people.

     The last monitor i bought I'm using right now, its a 24" Acer i got from Comp USA on sale for $139.99 or something like that. It's the biggest monitor by screen size i have ever owned. Sure I've had some pretty massive 21" CRT monitors in the past topping 60 pounds or more, but nothing as nice as this one. I'm pretty satisfied with it. The picture is bright, there is no lag, i can watch movies on it and so on. So why would i think of upgrading when nothing is wrong with the one I've got? Simple. Pure size.

     I just want something bigger. There has to be better than what i have now. I'm tired of having what everyone else has. I need to feel and experience my games/movies on a different level, even if i don't know what that level is yet. I feel as if a monitor could help me in the technological, and spiritual journey of horse shit my computer desk has evolved into. So, to make a long story short, i ordered a 32 Inch LCD monitor. It should be here on Friday. See the below images for size comparison.

     The monitor the Asian girl is leaning on is a 21" monitor, as is the small one in the top picture. The large monitor is a 32 inch LCD. It's obvious which one is the larger one, by a huge amount. He is also playing WOW, which i plan as one of my many activities.

RIP Steve Jobs 1955-2011

My first computer was a Mac, i lived in Vermont and Florida and all the schools computers were Macintosh computers. I had one at home, school, and at my father's work. I spent my highschool life learning graphic arts, website design, and writing, on an Apple computer.

The picture above is my son, Major II, learning how to use his first computer for the very first time...

8-Bit Princess Bride

Marc Martel - Freddie Murcury has been risen from the grave

Back to the Future: Shoes

I was chosen for the Diablo 3 Beta. Installing it now.

3rd Party WOW Macro Creation - What to avoid

I've learned quite a bit in my month or so creating macros with the Nostromo and other gaming devices at my disposal, and what i learned might save you a whole lot of Ban-Hammering in the future. Of course, I'm referring to World of Warcraft, and their stance on Automated Macros.

Let's go over Blizzard's policy on macro creation first.

1) So long as your using your mouse/keyboard as it was designed (as a mouse or a keyboard) your fine.
2) Macros created with the WOW software are fine no matter what.
3) Macros designed by a 3rd party program that press more than one keystroke at a time are considered off limits.
4) Key-bindings are limited to being mapped one button, per key, per button press.
5) No combination of button presses can be mapped to a single key, timed or untimed.

If you are being watched for suspicious activity, ie., Gliding or Boting, you will feel the sweet justice of the banhammer within seconds, with no way of getting your account back. The way you are flagged in the game (from what I've noticed) is the timed button presses.

What draws a red flag in WOW:

1) Patterns of button presses in sequence.
2) Timed button presses faster than 10 milliseconds. (in the past i wrote under 9ms was safe, but i was wrong, i think) Anything faster than 10ms is not normal by human standards.
3) Exact cool down spell manipulation. (Example: It takes 1.23 seconds for your next spell to become available, and at exactly 1.23 seconds, the spell was cast)
4) Any combination of the above.

I have taken the following steps to combat the above:
1) Created four identical macros for my rotation with different pauses at different lengths between button presses, for a basic faux-randomness. I cycle through the four macro cycles with the software provided with the Nostromo.
2) I change the faux-random cycle about every third enemy.
3) I added ultra slight button presses from the arrow keys to mix it up, sometimes not even noticeable at all and in the wrong places. I call these button presses miss-mistakes.
4) After the four macro cycles or there-abouts, i switch cycles by using the same macros over again, mixed around on another key. Often times i get lazy in raids and use the same two keys without bothering to switch the cycle. Enough randomness is going on that i don't think it would be a problem in that case.
5) I saved the all the macros in numbers (1-8) and letters (A-B) then swap them with alternates, (9-16, and C-D) once a week.
6) Looking for and adding randomness where i can to break patterns. Consecration and Exorcism help. (I use a paladin)

What have gained from this? Nothing really. I've asked myself several times, "Why am i doing all this work?" I programmed macros to maximize DPS to it's fullest, but assume a random nature, all just to become automated so i can just press one key and watch the buttons cycle through. It's time consuming and most likely not worth the amount of energy I've put into it. You may be thinking right now.. what's the payoff?

Automated Exact Timing Macro Pros and Cons

Pros:
- 20% gain in  DPS. Yes, I'm serious. By saving time between button presses you can actually save several seconds on average in a full rotation, which adds up big on your DPS numbers. Even the best players who are professional spammers typically hit the spell they want within milliseconds after it has become available, but nothing can match 100% accuracy. You may be able to hit the same key several times in a second, but the macro can hit it once, at the precise moment, and 100 keys at the same time, several times a second.
- Speed, plain and simple.
- The macro never makes a mistake, and the outcome is always the same.
- Super consistent high DPS in dungeons.
- The macro is optimized to use all available mana for dungeons and be conservative during bosses. (single target and bosses on one side and multi-target and raid on the other side)
- You can organize your bags and read or something while your fighting things.

Cons:
- Boring sometimes when all you have to do is hit one key and watch your spells go off before it looks like the cool down is even over yet.
-The last spell in the group-macro, if the enemy is dead, will fire anyways, and if it is an AOE spell, that might hit something you may not want it to, or use needless mana. I don't know how to fix this, but it does happen about once per dungeon at least.
-Random occurrence spells (paladin - Exorcism) then are triggered as a free action must be hit manually for optimum dps. The macro has no idea if its ready or not, so its your job to hit it when it lights up. Not a big deal, but not totally automated either. This could be listed as a pro as it also adds randomness.

Gummi Bears - Season 1, Episode 1

Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears is the real name actually. Super high production values for the first time in in saturday morning history, Disney took a huge risk by increaing the budget.. but it paid off big.

Steve Jobs Calls It Quits

I guess owning most of Disney, Pixar, Paramount, and Apple mean you don't have to work anymore. Goodluck Mr. Jobs, don't go out developing some crazy shit again lke the Newton.

Fright Night 2 (1988) Full Movie!

Watch the movie now!

If the link is goes dead, I'll post more movie links in the comments as time goes on. In exchange for the link, click follow on the left! Long live the Nerd.

Guy Dressed as Boba Fett Plays "Hungry Like The Wolf" On An Accordian

I feel bad for this guy, only getting a few hits on youtube for such a masterpiece. Let's show this guy some Unknown:Hole gratitude and give him some hits, eh? He actually is not that bad.

Blade Runner Sequel Announced

From the press release:

Three-time Oscar-nominated director Ridley Scott is set to helm a follow up to his own ground-breaking 1982 science fiction classic "Blade Runner" for Warner Bros-based financing and production company Alcon Entertainment ("The Blind Side," "The Book of Eli").
Alcon co-founders and co-Chief Executive Officers Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove will produce with Bud Yorkin and Cynthia Sikes Yorkin, along with Ridley Scott. Frank Giustra and Tim Gamble, CEO's of Thunderbird Films, will serve as executive producers.
The filmmakers have not yet revealed whether the theatrical project will be a prequel or sequel to the renowned original.
Alcon and Yorkin recently announced that they are partnering to produce "Blade Runner" theatrical sequels and prequels, in addition to all television and interactive productions.

My thoughts: How dare you.

Ridley Scott, you asshole. You know i'm going to spend my hard earned money on this movie that will not translate well to the screen with all the new special effects that are available. Nothing will convince me the first movie was nothing short of perfect. It took me 20 years to forgive you for the shitty naration by Harrison Ford, and now this. We already forgave and embraced you for your work on Legend.

Cocksucker.

The Best Game You Never Played: Allegiance

     That's an in-game screen shot of Allegiance with the UI turned off and all settings at the highest. Not bad for a game that came out in 2000.

     Allegiance is a space combat/strategy MMO. It was made by Microsoft, got rave reviews, had a great popularity and fan base, but fizzled out a short while after. It is now completely organized and run by fans of the games and servers reflect that. Not alot of people play. (sad face)
     Listen: This game.. this awesome game, has very few players and is free to play. It's just like Subspace but way updated, with support for wide screen monitors and high quality sound. This is the last of the great games to have the system requirement of.. wait for it.. a joystick.

     I use a Cyborg X joystick, it's mostly an overkill, but it works very well. When you look at the joystick straight on, it whispers fuck you in your general direction, because that's how cool it is. You can play this game with keyboard and mouse, but i doubt very few people do. Unless you want to play Wing Commander or Incoming!, this is the last great non-flight sim game to use the stick. Personally, i think more games should require the use of a really cool Joystick. If not for just the fact it looks really cool on my desk.

To play free click here. My name in the game is BurnedToast. I made this character last night, so if you see me on, remember i called you a pussy-fag and you blow pigs... so come kill me.

Hot Blizzard Cosplay Girls, Part 1

Click to enlarge. Or shut your door to masterbate, your choice.

Sub-Zero is a fucking fat ass

I'm drinking beer tonight gents: It's Kyle Mcclary's Birthday

I don't really know how old he is, i'll be honest, but he is younger than me and has a voracious appetite for beer. As a young man in his 30's, i do appreciate a person who has a colon-deep appreciation for a pint of suds.

If you don't like beer, then please, by all means, go fuck yourself.

Oh, and Happy Birthday Kyle.

World's Angriest Gamer Speaks Out Against DIablo III

I guess this fat guy's rant is up to about half a million hits. I guess eating cheetos and playing games will get you noticed these days. By these standards, i should be a god.

I take gaming pretty seriously and give it a go several times a year. This guy makes it his career to sit on his ass and complain that his fingers are too fat for the macros he needs to hit, and that the system requirements for the newest game do not include runs to 711 for those compressed cuban sandwiches.

Woman Makes R2-D2 Sweater, Old people interested in Star Wars come winter time

Created by Etsy user "EricaKnit", this incredible custom R2-D2 sweater is "made from merino wool for each interested buyer (or whatever type of wool they please) [and] looks particularly appropriate for wintertime cosplay."

The only way to rock out with an R2-D2 sweater is to not wear any pants at all. You have to act like a gentleman after all.

Pictures of Women, Wearing Bacon

Of course you may click to enlarge at any time. I have never been so hungry and turned on at the same time in my entire life. Bacon + Tits = awesome.

Lord Nikon Wallpaper Attempt

Click to enlarge. 1920x1080

I made this from a screen shot that google won't let me upload right now for some reason. 

Hackers Movie HD Desktop Backgrounds (Zero Cool and Crash Override)

Click to enlarge. Both backgrounds are HD 1920x1080 resolution for widescreen monitors.

I've been sitting on these backgrounds for a while. I Founds them a very long time ago.. 2003-ish? I saved them to a CD and just kind of put them away when i had a chance to convert them to a larger format. Originally 640x480, i had to do some extensive editing in CS5 to get them scaled up and not blurry. Not very hard, but i had time tonight so i thought i would get it out of the way.

The top picture was made from a screen grab of the movie when Crashoverride/Zero Cool (Johnnie Lee Miller) is booting up his computer to hack the gibson at the end of the film. A member of the Ubuntu boards originally made it to a users request, i tweaked the colors, enlarged, and sharpened the end product. I could be wrong about whose computer this is, and i just watched the movie. This was one of my earlier creations based on source material. This background has since been widely distributed on the internet.

The bottom image was made by me. It was made from a screen grab at the beginning of the movie when Zero Cool/Crash Override is taking over a TV station. I remade this one from scratch using the gradient tool, find edges and a few clicks of the paint bucket. Johhny had icons all over his desktop in the movie, so if you want, get some shitty copeland icons from Google Images and go nuts. I have found this desktop image in different variations based on the split second image you see of his computer at the beginning. I decided to try and recreate this image the best i could really. See below:

The pictures above are screen shots of me recreating the image from a youtube video. Click to

 enlarge.

The Final Product. Click to enlarge. 1920x1080

The font used in the movie was a condensed OCR A Extended, Bold. I used 18.54pt size, with no blending options used. I decided not to add the icons as some people may wish to kind of place their icons on the bubbles.

**UPDATE** For those of you who are having issues with scaling and images are not the correct size, download the 7zip package here with the original files + photoshop documents so you can play around with it.