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Sunday, August 31, 2008

«Sarah Palin»

Sarah Palin... Wow. That was unexpected.

Our governor...

As a vice presidential candidate...

Not just another old white guy...

I'm still voting for Obama. I don't think this country could survive much longer under Republicans. Don't get me wrong, Democrats have their issues as well; I don't really like either one of them. If I had my way, I'd put a Libertarian in as President.

See the rest of “Sarah Palin”»

Saturday, August 30, 2008

«Caturday: Question Stickz Failed»

I question that cats have any inherent grammar or sentence structure...

I question the general assumption that felines are inherently deficient in the area of grammar and sentence structure.
'Fedge teh stickz' dog saiz. 'Iz fun' dog saiz. Iz gunna kill him dead.
You have Failed me for the Last Time

See the rest of “Caturday: Question Stickz Failed”»

Friday, August 29, 2008

«Stick Figures on Crack»

So this is what the internet has come to... I think my brain is turning to a gelatinous goo.

Stick Figures on Crack 1,2 and 3


And, that of course lead me to find what I do believe is the most retarded song ever...

Chacarron macarron


Don't worry if you can't understand it. It isn't a language. It's just gibberish.

See the rest of “Stick Figures on Crack”»

Thursday, August 28, 2008

«First AdSense Payment»

Dollar symbolYesterday I officially I received my first payment from the Google AdSense ads. I was paid $119.71 USD. You don't get paid until your balance is over $100. Once you pass $100, you'll get paid at the end of the next month. It sure took me long enough to get there, but I've noticed an increase in the last few months, so it shouldn't take as long the next time around.

So now that the blog is paying for itself, I went ahead and bought ad-free hosting from GoDaddy.com. I was waiting for that payment before I spent any more money on the blog. I wasn't all that pleased how long it took to login and use the in-browser interface with the hosting to upload files. So, remembering a recent Hive Five post on Lifehacker about FTP clients, I looked at what ranked the highest there and downloaded FileZilla. I like it.

Since I don't have that annoying GoDaddy banner ad (from the free ad-supported hosting) at the top of the Blog Supplement pages, I removed the old ones that were on the googlepages domain. Please update your bookmarks accordingly.

I know there have been a lot of posts lately talking about the updates here. I've been doing a lot behind the scenes, and it's just what's on my mind currently.

See the rest of “First AdSense Payment”»

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

«Angry Computer»

I've posted a video before of computer-related anger. Here's one where the computer finally has had enough of the abuse...

Angry Man

See the rest of “Angry Computer”»

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

«Blog Supplements Moved Over»

I've got the blog supplements over at their new location. For those of you who didn't read it before or forgot, what I call my "blog supplements" are just the other links in the sidebar, under navigation (the games and such). However, I have not removed the old ones yet. Feel free to update any bookmarks you may have so they reflect the domain change.

For now you'll see the GoDaddy ads at the top of those pages. I haven't updated the hosting yet, so I'm still on the free ad-supported hosting. Also for the time being, the pages do not validate as valid XHTML strict due to the ad code that's tacked on to the end.

I might just end up going with the paid GoDaddy hosting. I already have it set up, after all. Yes, I've read their customer support isn't the best of the industry, but as my dad pointed out, I can probably figure out anything I need to do on my own anyway.

If there are any of you that have been with me from the beginning, way back when my only website was Realm of Marf, I thank you for keeping up with all the domain address changes I've gone through: RealmOfMarf.googlepages.com, mastermarf.googlepages.com, mastermarf.blogspot.com... It shouldn't change much from here on out. For once I own my own domain, and I plan to keep it that way. Unlike all the others, mastermarf.com is mine alone. The only thing that could change now is if I decide to reorganize my subdomains.

See the rest of “Blog Supplements Moved Over”»

Sunday, August 24, 2008

«6 Random Things About Me Tag»

I've been busy with various things for the blog, updating since I've moved to the new domain. But I'll take a bit of a break to do this "6 random things about me" meme I've been tagged with by Monique.

  1. My birthday is the day after Spore is officially released in the US. I'll be 22 on September 8th.
  2. I've never did any illegal drugs in my life. Not once.
  3. I didn't go to my high school prom.
  4. I hate writing. I've always hated it. That's one reason why I force myself to do daily blog posts.1
  5. I'm fairly good at managing money. With no job, I'm on a tight budget.2
  6. I have a chainmail shirt. I got it for a good price on eBay because it was incorrectly labeled under the category for boat steering wheels.

I don't think I'll bother tagging anyone this time.

1: Although I don't really hate blogging... I realize the value of writing, and just like anything else, if you don't use it you lose it.
2: Yes, I'll have to find a job soon. And yes, I've been saying that for a while now...

See the rest of “6 Random Things About Me Tag”»

Saturday, August 23, 2008

«Caturday: Longcat is Long»

There's only one picture for Caturday this week, and you'll have to view the full post to see it. I'm sure you'll understand why when you see it. It's the legendary Longcat image. Someone spent over 9000 hours in MS Paint to create this, I'm sure.

You may have heard of Longcat. Often times you'll see someone say Longcat is Long on a web forum. Well, here's the full length of Longcat. You tell me if Longcat is long...
Longcat is long.
Fun fact: This Longcat image is 300 pixels wide and 17,700 pixels tall (300x17700).

Yes, I'm flaunting the fact that I don't have to rely on Google's Picasa's servers to host my images. Picasa would have shrank it down to 27x1600 when I uploaded it; completely useless. There would have been no detail at only 27 pixels wide.

See the rest of “Caturday: Longcat is Long”»

Friday, August 22, 2008

«Anti-American?»

Is this art anti-American? I don't really think so. It's just pointing out a few problems with our society. No country is perfect, and I'm glad to live in a country that still allows free criticism of the government. Click an image to view full.
US Dollar displaying problems in American society.
Christian America, Bush, and the War in Iraq.
Bill of rights as World Trade Center, Patriot Act as the jet that destroys it.

See the rest of “Anti-American?”»

Thursday, August 21, 2008

«Goth Lyfe Season 2 Finally»

I had talked about Goth Lyfe before in a previous post. As the author said, this one makes a lot of references to previous episodes, so it's a good idea to start from the beginning.

Goth Lyfe 20: Demonstraction

See the rest of “Goth Lyfe Season 2 Finally”»

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

«Master Marf Domain Name»

Take a look at your address bar in your browser; it no longer has ".blogspot.com" in it. I'm no longer just a subdomain of blogger! My blog is now located at http://www.mastermarf.com. Even if/when I change to a different host, I own the domain name and it would be carried over. I bought the domain through GoDaddy.com. I thought about doing away with the useless "www" subdomain and just be http://mastermarf.com, but the DNS settings would be a little tricky with how I have it setup with blogger.

Speaking of hosting, I have this free ad-supported hosting from GoDaddy. I hate the banner ads at the top, so it looks like I'm in the market for a cheap ad-free hosting service. From what I've read, GoDaddy is great for buying domain names from, but their support and track record for their paid hosting sucks. So I want to go with a different hosting company. Any suggestions, anyone? You can leave them in the comments.

For now, I'll deal with what I have. I think I'll slowly move all my pictures from Picasa to my own domain. I have a subdomain all set for just pictures (take a look at the address in this example).

For photos, I'll lower the quality of the thumbnail (image you see embedded in the blog post) to speed up page load time, and you'll be able to see the true full-sized, high quality images Picasa never let me upload when you click to view full (that post now has the larger images, I've updated it to have the size I originally wanted).

Another example of this is the Touched By His Noodly Appendage desktop background in one of my old posts (click the image in that article to view full). I've did a few, but it will take a while longer than I initially thought. I'm starting with the oldest posts and working my way up. I figured I may as well start this now, because even when I get a different host, all the addresses will remain the same.

Oh, I forgot to say that this domain change on the blog will not force anyone to update webfeed subscriptions; it's still the same Feedburner address.

See the rest of “Master Marf Domain Name”»

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

«Googlepages To Be Canceled»

Googlepages has been marked for cancellation. This poses a problem for me far beyond my blog supplement pages going away. Anything hosted on a googlepages domain, including my background images and CSS on my blog here (essentially everything that makes my blog's template what it is), will be gone.

I'm not sure exactly when this will be, but I'm not happy about it. I might have to find a webhost that I'd have to pay for. I definitely don't want to revert back to a default Blogger template. When I figure out what to do, there might be a few glitches and/or problems while I do the transition. I don't think Google Sites will do what I would need it to do.

Here's the notice in the announcement they made in the Google Page Creator Discussion Group:

Hello Google Page Creator Users,

We are no longer accepting new sign-ups for Page Creator because we
have shifted our focus to developing Google Sites. Google Sites offers
many of the capabilities of Page Creator along with new features like
site-level navigation, site-level headers, control over who can see
and edit your site, and rich embeddings like calendars, videos, and
Google docs. Simply put, we think that Google Sites offers a better
experience for creating web pages and websites. Consequently, we will
be shutting down Page Creator later this year.

If you are currently a Page Creator user, you can continue to use Page
Creator and your pages will automatically be transitioned to Google
Sites later this year. We are committed to making this transition as
smooth and easy as possible, and we will post more details as we get
closer to the transition time. You can also manually move your web
pages from Page Creator to Google Sites or other service providers at
any time.

Page Creator has always been a Google Labs project (Labs is our
"technology playground" where we let users test-drive experimental
products and give us feedback so we can innovate more quickly). Since
launching Page Creator in Labs, we've learned a lot and have
incorporated those lessons into Google Sites. We think the Labs
program, which allows users to try new things before they're fully
baked, lets us innovate faster and ultimately create the best possible
products.

We seriously thank each and every one of you who have taken the time
to use, write about, offer suggestions, and become passionate about
Google Page Creator. Sites will be an exciting way to continue and
extend the great things you've been doing; we can't wait for you to
start using the service.

Sincerely,

- Mike and the Google Page Creator and Sites Teams

*sigh* Perhaps this will finally convince me to get my own domain name after all...

See the rest of “Googlepages To Be Canceled”»

Monday, August 18, 2008

Sunday, August 17, 2008

«PSA: You Lost The Game»

[ ALERT! THIS IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT. ]

NOTICE / You just lost the game
The Game, you just lost. That is all.

[ THIS HAS BEEN A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT, BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Master Marf. ]

See the rest of “PSA: You Lost The Game”»

Saturday, August 16, 2008

«Caturday: Where Hand Sup?»

Thankfully, I've never drank too much to be in the situation this cat is in.

Where the fuck am I?
I r standin on ur hand Stealin ur heart
Sup

See the rest of “Caturday: Where Hand Sup?”»

Friday, August 15, 2008

«Spore Officially Complete, Gone Gold»

Spore is gold... prepare for the onslaught

Come September 7th, this will be me:

Spore, on Septermber 7th.
(Ok, that's not me... But you get the idea.)

I edited that picture a little. It was a "gluttony" motivational poster with a slightly raciest caption. Also, the spore box was bag of potato chips. Anyway, I can take credit for this rendition.

See the rest of “Spore Officially Complete, Gone Gold”»

Thursday, August 14, 2008

«The Bridge to Nowhere»

I said earlier in my Gravina Island image post that I'd talk about the Gravina Island access bridge.

I'm sure some of you have heard about the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" proposed to be built in Ketchikan, Alaska. Nearly as long as the Golden Gate Bridge and taller than the Brooklyn Bridge. It made national, even global news. It was called a prime example of run-away pork-barrel spending on pet projects. The project was shut down after an outcry from the mis-informed public. They ridiculed it as being a "bridge from mainland Alaska to an island with a population of 50". That statement alone shows they are completely ignorant of the issue.

Let me (being a local resident of Ketchikan) correct a few facts for the "Bridge to Nowhere".

Technically, it would be 2 bridges, using Pennock Island as a stepping stone. The bridge does not have anything to do with mainland Alaska, I don't know where that even came from. It has nothing to do with the 50 residents of Gravina Island, and everything to do with the airport that's located on that island. It's to connect the 14,000 people of Revillagigedo Island (8,000 within the city limits of Ketchikan, but 14,000 in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough) to the Ketchikan International Airport, located on Gravina Island. Ketchikan is the only city in Alaska without road access to its airport, and the federal government promised 30 years ago that we'd get a bridge.

Both Pennock Island and Gravina Island would have been opened up for development and recreation. There's a significant amount of flat land over there (a rare commodity in Ketchikan, nearly the entire town is built on the side of a mountain). Had the bridge been built, the "Bridge to Nowhere" would become a bridge to somewhere pretty quick due to development and expansion.

Ketchikan has a thriving tourism industry. Setting aside for the moment an impressive bridge would attract more tourists, around 850,000 people already come and go by cruise ship each year. The bridge must be tall enough for cruise ships to pass under; hence, why it has to be so tall.

A significant number of people come and go through the Ketchikan International Airport as well. In total for the year 2007, there were 222,249 passengers that used the airport. 406,664 people and 107,609 vehicles used the current airport ferry system in place to get to and from the airport (source). It's that near half million in traffic volume per year the bridge would have been built for. Instead, we have to pay ferry tolls to get there. $5.00 per person (round-trip if in the same day), and $6.00 per car (one way, not including driver or passengers). No-one else has to pay to get to their airport. Also, a bridge would make it faster and easier for emergency vehicles to get to the airport, if something were to happen.

So what happened instead? The State of Alaska still got the federal funds, but with the earmarks for the bridge removed. So our governor, Sarah Palin, vetoed the bridge. However, they forgot to remove the earmarks for the $25 million road over on Gravina Island that was to connect to the bridge. The road is under construction now. It's a true "Road to Nowhere", complete with a tunnel under the runway (as you can see in the pictures I took). All we're going to get is a useless dead-end road and a new ferry. The least they could have did is subsidize the cost of the ferry so we wouldn't have to pay to access our own airport.

The rest of the funding got siphoned off to other projects for Anchorage; it didn't even stay in Southeast Alaska. Meanwhile, our roads are quickly deteriorating and Sarah Palin vetoed the money that's needed to fix them. She really has it out for Southeast Alaska for some reason. But that's going off on a tangent with a different issue.

See the rest of “The Bridge to Nowhere”»

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

«The Moonwalk Superstar»

Because somehow it is relevant...

Parental Guide 27. / 'THE MOONWALK SUPERSTAR' / (Please see diagram below) / 1. I aced both my exams today, Dad. / 2. Well, I can do the fucking moonwalk. / 3. UNLEACH THE MOTHERFUCKING MOONWALK. / 4. Whoo! / 5. Who's the 'King of Pop' now, bitch? / 6. AWKWARD SILENCE. / IT'S REALLY NOT THAT DIFFICULT. / Want your kid to think you can't do the moonwalk? / A little encouragement can mean more to your kids than you could ever imagine. / DON'T DROP OUT ON YOUR KIDS. CALL 1-877-FOR-A-KID.

Click image to view full


If you have bad eyesight and can't quite read the text in the image even when you view full, here's what it says:

Parental Guide 27.
"THE MOONWALK SUPERSTAR"
(Please see diagram below)
1. I aced both my exams today, Dad.
2. Well, I can do the fucking moonwalk.
3. UNLEACH THE MOTHERFUCKING MOONWALK.
4. Whoo!
5. Who's the 'King of Pop' now, bitch?
6. AWKWARD SILENCE.
IT'S REALLY NOT THAT DIFFICULT.
Want your kid to think you can't do the moonwalk?
A little encouragement can mean more to your kids than you could ever imagine.
DON'T DROP OUT ON YOUR KIDS. CALL 1-877-FOR-A-KID.

See the rest of “The Moonwalk Superstar”»

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

«Magic Deck: Draconic Shadows»

Kokusho, the Evening Star(To my regular readers: If you know what I'm talking about, then read on. Otherwise just skip over this. Although I wouldn't mind attracting a few Magic players as regular readers.)

I decided to post deck lists for a few of my Magic: the Gathering decks I have constructed. This one is named Draconic Shadows and is a casual Vintage format deck.

The mana base was a sort-of personal project. The Badlands were not cheap. There are no basic lands, and nearly every land can produce both black and red mana. This is my favorite deck (not really my best, though), so it got special treatment in the land department.

The main strategy is to use Kokusho, the Evening Star to win by attacking with it and/or killing it. Due to the legend rule, if I play another one they both die. Most of the other cards in the deck either help me get it out or stall the game until I do. I use Makeshift Mannequin to reanimate them. Perhaps the card that describes best the way the deck plays is No Mercy.

Draconic Shadows, 60 cards:

Creatures (4)
4x Kokusho, the Evening Star

Enchantments (2)
2x No Mercy

Instants (18)
4x Dark Ritual
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Makeshift Mannequin
2x Shattering Pulse
4x Terminate

Sorceries (13)
1x Demonic Tutor
4x Diabolic Tutor
4x Kaervek's Torch
4x Pyroclasm

Land (23)
4x Badlands
4x Blood Crypt
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Hammerheim
1x Miren, the Moaning Well
1x Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
2x Sulfurous Springs
4x Tainted Peak
1x Urborg

If you have suggestions, feel free to leave a comment.

EDIT: In: 4x Makeshift Mannequin; Out: 3x Beacon of Unrest, 1x Infernal Tutor.
The decklist above reflects these changes.

See the rest of “Magic Deck: Draconic Shadows”»

Monday, August 11, 2008

«Motivational Monday: Motivational Posters»

You knew it would happen, there's motivational posters about everything else...

Motivational Posters / When other memes just won't do.

See the rest of “Motivational Monday: Motivational Posters”»

Sunday, August 10, 2008

«Lego Robots»

It's amazing what people have did with the lego mindstorms.

Here's one ding something I could never do, solving a rubik's cube. It scans the colors on the cube, then solves it.

NXT Rubik's cube solver - Final version


Here's a lego turret controlled by hand motions.

LEGO NxtShot 2.0 - cannon controlled by Mindsensors remote


Here's an automated lego car factory.

Mindstorms Autofabrik

See the rest of “Lego Robots”»

Friday, August 8, 2008

«Beijing Olympics»

I'm glad the Beijing Olympics are finally here; it means they will be over soon. I am so tired of hearing about it. All the protests and such... Let China govern themselves as they see fit. You tell someone how to run their country, they will resent you for it. It's like telling a parent they are raising their child wrong, and telling them how they should do it. All it does is piss them off.

I also heard there's something like 80 heads-of-state (including George Bush) there for the opening. Now I see why a while back someone tried to start a scare for today. Several months ago I started seeing talk online about writing "8/8/08... Boom" on bathroom stalls and such. Let me assure you, I took no part in it.

But think about it hypothetically, 80 world leaders in one place. Wouldn't that be the perfect time for a terrorist bombing? Perhaps, just perhaps, the little "8/8/08... Boom" thing was meant to keep security on their toes, so nothing does actually happen.

We can only hope the Beijing Olympics go without any more protests or riots: or terrorist attacks. Unless something does happen, I expect this to be the last I talk about the Olympics, because as I might have said earlier, I'm tired of hearing about them. I've never been much into sports.

With all this talk of games... You just lost The Game.

See the rest of “Beijing Olympics”»

Thursday, August 7, 2008

«Banana Dogs»

I saw this on Fail Dogs.

Banana dog costumes
Just... Wow. I didn't know they made banana costumes for dogs.

See the rest of “Banana Dogs”»

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

«Gravina Island (Photo Heavy)»

On Monday I left Revillagigedo Island (the island Ketchikan, Alaska is on) for a few hours. I went over to Gravina Island with my bicycle, where our airport is. Yes, this is the island the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" was suppose to be built to. I'll talk about that in a later post, this post is photos I took while over there. Click an image to view full.

On the ferry, heading over to the airport. By boat is the only way to get over there, costs $5.00 per passenger (round trip), $6.00 per vehicle (one way). Lucky for me, my bike went for free.
Ferry ride to Gravina Island, Ketchikan Airport.
Here's where the tunnel is/will be that passes under the airport runway. It's all part of the construction of the "Road to Nowhere" (again, I'll talk about it later). For now, they have a pilot car that escorts traffic across the runway. I had to put my bicycle in the back of the pilot car and ride in the passenger seat to get across (both ways).
Unfinished tunnel under the Ketchikan airport runway.
This is right on the other side of the runway, the road makes a "T". They wouldn't let me go very far when I turned left here.
Road 'T' intersection on the other side of the airport.
That little bridge is all the further I was allowed to go. There's heavy construction ahead. They told me the dump truck drivers drive like maniacs, and it was unsafe for me to ride any further.
Road construction ahead, bicycles not allowed.
So I turned around and went on the road to the right of the "T" intersection. You can see they have a lot of supplies lined up along the road.
Construction supplies lined up along the road.
I stopped to take a picture of this pond with Ketchikan in the background.
Random pond on Gravina Island.
I went up a random side road. I didn't go very far. They dig across old logging roads they no longer use to allow water to drain from one side to the other so it doesn't wash out the road, in case they want to use it again. It also makes it tough for vehicles of any kind to continue on the road. This is the road that I found the bear crap on, by-the-way.
Logging road closed and dug across.
Here's what the road looks like that I've been riding on. Notice all the relatively flat land over here?
Flat land on Gravina Island.
My bicycle, with quite the backdrop.
Bicycle with Ketchikan in the background.
I went up another random logging road, this one took me up a mountain a little ways. It eventually got too rough to comfortably continue. Besides, it was cutting away from the water and going towards the interior of Gravina Island. This is looking back across to Ketchikan. It was a little dusty that day, as you can tell from the picture.
View of Ketchikan from Gravina Island.
Approaching the tunnel again, opposite side the other picture was. You can see how Ketchikan is built on the side of the mountains.
West end of Ketchikan visible, and airport tunnel.
Here, I'm on the ferry heading back to Revillagigedo Island (Ketchikan). I tried to catch the beautiful green left in the wake of the other ferry, but the camera didn't pick up on the color too well. That cruise ship is the Diamond Princess.
Ferry ride back over to Ketchikan.
EDIT: Here's that later post where I talk about the bridge.

See the rest of “Gravina Island (Photo Heavy)”»

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

«Crappy Blog Post»

This is my crappiest blog post yet... Does a bear crap in the woods? Well, not all the time. This was in the middle of the road.
Bear dung in the road on Gravina Island.
I was off the island for a few hours yesterday. I went over to Gravina Island, where our airport is, and rode my bike on the roads over there. Don't worry, I'll have better pictures ready to post tomorrow. For now, all you get is crap.
Closeup of bear dung in the road on Gravina Island.
Yes, I'm sure you needed to see that. As always, you can click an image to view its full glory.

See the rest of “Crappy Blog Post”»

Monday, August 4, 2008

«Motivational Monday: Progress»

This one's a little better thought out than most, notice the car can only turn "left".

Progress / Sometimes there is no right way to turn, and we must turn the only way that is left.

See the rest of “Motivational Monday: Progress”»

Sunday, August 3, 2008

«Musical Taste: Enya»

To see the others in the series, click here. (There, isn't that better than listing every part number?)

For this Musical Taste post, I'll have 3 videos that provide an example of Enya's music. I've been listening to Enya for a long time. She's the one that composed and sang the music for the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.

Enya- Cursum Perficio


Enya - Orinoco Flow


Enya - It's In The Rain

See the rest of “Musical Taste: Enya”»

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Friday, August 1, 2008

«Randoms From the Internet»

I've noticed over on my poll in the sidebar, random crap is winning by a small margin so far, so here's some random pictures I found on the internet. Click an image to view full (although they are fairly small images even if full).

It's a news article about how coffee might trigger a first heart attack in some people. Take a look at the ad to the side of the article: Folgers, enjoy a second cup.
Coffee might trigger first heart attack, enjoy a second cup.
Hey, look! It's flamin' bag-head Fred!
Oh noes!!!1
Because it has nothing to do with the topic at hand, just like your argument.
There is a windmill in my beard. Your argument is invalid.

See the rest of “Randoms From the Internet”»

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