There's still snow in places around here left over from December! (Here being Ketchikan, Alaska) It's just been a cold spring. We usually have weather more like Seattle than what you'd traditionally associate with Alaska (just a little colder and wetter than Seattle).
This photo was taken April 14th, 2009... At sea-level no less.
For those of us that played Sim City 2000 or 3000, this will sound familiar.
Holy crap, that's exactly what the microwave power plants in Sim City do! It's expected to begin beaming down 200 megawatts of power by 2016 (a full 4 years ahead of the 2020 date the power plant becomes available in Sim City!)Solaren would generate the power using solar panels in Earth orbit and convert it to radio-frequency transmissions that would be beamed down to a receiving station
...Or at least the closest thing we have to a God. There's even a Church of Google.
I, being an atheist, require extraordinary evidence for extraordinary claims. However, the Church of Google website backs up their claim with 9 proofs:
Seriously, when you think about it... A giant bunny hiding eggs makes more sense for Easter. Perhaps that's why Easter is the way it is today.
Yak and the Story Of Easter
Not quite your average creepy guy encounter.
I updated something else on the blog, again. I go through spurts like this.
I've seen on many blogs where if the post author makes a comment, it'll be highlighted in some way so it is easier to pick out amongst all the other comments. I've been meaning to highlight my own comments here for a while now. I've seen how to do it in various places. Blogger Buster, for example, has a great tutorial on how to do it in a blogger blog. I finally got around to doing it.
Like any project, one thing leads to another... I re-designed the entire appearance of the comments. Now each comment has a border, no longer uses a definition list, and the comments are numbered! (yay!)
In the unlikely event that one of my posts gets hundreds of comments and there's actually a "Next Page" for comments, I have a javascript in place that will kick in to correct the comment numbering. Otherwise the comment numbering would start over at 1 on each page.
You can either make a comment here (or in any of my posts) to see the outcome. Or you can check out a post that already has a few comments.
EDIT: I also got rid of those annoying dotted horizontal lines that were in the sidebar.
For the fellow blog owners out there that use Google Webmaster Tools, have you ever checked for duplicate title tags? You can find it under Diagnostics/Content analysis. If you do have duplicate tags (and I'm betting you do), they will show under Title tag issues.
If you're anything like me, you try your best to avoid duplicate title tags. It is why I use strange title names for a few of my post series (like Caturday, for example). Also, if you're anything like me you'll be shocked and applauded by all the duplicate tags that are still being reported; despite your best efforts.
When you dig down and figure out what is causing the duplicate title tags you'll find they are from things like comment permalinks like this: /2009/02/vince-offer.html?showComment=1239111420000
Some of them were really god-awful like this one: http://www.mastermarf.com/2009/02/vince-offer.html?widgetType=BlogArchive&widgetId=BlogArchive1&action=toggle&dir=close&toggle=YEARLY-1199178000000&toggleopen=MONTHLY-1222848000000
That brings up the exact same page as /2009/02/vince-offer.html, only it has a bunch of unnecessary query tags tacked on. What's worse is, sometimes googlebot will think that the long one is the true page and drop the short (correct) one from the index.
The fix is finally at hand. Google (and the other major search engines) are now supporting what's called canonical links. Basically they tell the search engine spiders where the "real" version of a page is located. They are extremely useful for situations like I described above or where duplicate content is likely to be generated.
Here's the code for your blogger layout so you too, will no longer have this issue. Put it somewhere just before the </head> tag in your html layout:<link expr:href='data:blog.url' rel='canonical'/>
That will strip all the unnecessary query tags off the url and point the search engine bots to the shortened url so they can index that one. After your pages are re-indexed you won't have duplicate title tag issues from comment permalinks anymore. All the major search engines use and support these canonical links.
I had a couple hundred duplicate title tags, and within a week of putting in the canonical links I'm down to 5. I trust those won't be around much longer, either. It might take longer for your site. For some reason googlebot really likes my site (crawling an average of 183 pages per day).
I made 3 changes to the blog:
Good ol' Obama. We all love combo breakers.
Sure... We all believe that. *wink* *wink*You don't have to be a potential Google acquisition for us to want to work with you
So sad... No doubt he'll be saying that on his deathbed soon.
Just a quick little javascript thing I wrote... I can do such wondrous things when I'm bored.
Click the rock to turn it over!
Yup. That's my pet rock, if you can call it such a thing. If you really care, here's the full size photo of the Please Turn Me Over side, and the full size photo of the That Feels Good side.
Protip: Turn the rock over to the "Feels Good" side and wait 10 seconds.
I think we've seen that last of that Vince "Offer" Shlomi guy. He was arrested for beating up a hooker. Somehow I don't think many companies want someone like that as their spokesman for marketing their products. Click an image to view full. Shlomi told cops he paid [Sasha] Harris about $1000 in cash after she “propositioned him for straight sex.” Shlomi said that when he kissed Harris, she suddenly “bit his tongue and would not let go.” Shlomi then punched Harris several times until she released his tongue. The affidavit…notes that during the 4 AM fight Harris sustained facial fractures and lacerations all over her face…. After freeing his tongue, a bleeding Shlomi ran to the [hotel] lobby, where security summoned cops. Harris refused to cooperate with officers, who recovered $930 from her purse.
The 2-page police report for Vince:
The 2-page police report for Harris:
"You're gonna love my nuts..."
[ ALERT! THIS IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT. ]
Caution! Do not believe anything you read or are told today. Not even this1.
[ THIS HAS BEEN A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT, BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Master Marf. ]
1: The crafty people will realize this sets up a paradox. Just like the "This statement is false" statement.
Way back over a year ago, I asked if there was anywhere I could get a Flag of Anonymous. Well, I finally have one.
Of course, there's also the distinct possibility we could have destroyed ourselves in a technological war by now as well.
A few days ago I was bored and decided to bid on a bunch of Magic The Gathering cards on eBay. At one point I had 21 items I was bidding on.
I knew I wouldn't win many of them, however. I was bidding on things like dual lands and fetch lands (MTG players will know what those are). The minimum bids started at $0.99, and I put in a maximum bid of $1.07; no higher. Of course, dual lands go for at least $20-$30 each, and some of the auctions were for 4 cards.
Most of the auctions I was bidding on have already ended or are about to. Most of them ended upwards of $70+, well above my maximum of $1.07. I never intended to win the items, it was just something to do. I wasn't too worried, and in the off-chance that I actually won the bid I'd be happy to pay $1.07 +shipping to get the cards. There was only a couple of bids that I actually planned on winning. I've already received 2 out of 4 of them. Actually, the first one I revived wasn't even cards. I'll reveal on Tuesday what that item was.
I also bought 27 cards from KardKastle. Those cards were cheap enough that it wasn't worth the shipping to buy them separately on eBay. Once I get all my cards I ordered, I'll finally be able to build a deck I've wanted to build for years. It'll be quite a unique deck; perhaps not real competitive, but should be fun.
Once I build the deck and playtest it a little, I may post a decklist here like I have with 2 of my other decks so far: Draconic Shadows and Pitiful Elves. Unless a certain someone gives it away (you know who you are), the deck will remain a secret until then.
It's never really the dog... Dogs aren't sneaky enough.
Take a look at the Kentucky Fried Chicken logo, the one of Colonel Sanders. If you turn it upside down you can see the face of Captain Sanders.
(To my regular readers: If you know what I'm talking about, then read on. Otherwise just skip over this.)
I haven't played Magic: the Gathering for so long... Ever since the local game shop closed, there's nowhere to go to play. At least nowhere that I'm aware of. If you're in Ketchikan, Alaska and know of a place, please tell me.
I really should rename this deck. When I first built it, I didn't even have any Llanowar Elves. What's an elf deck without Llanowar Elves? Pitiful; that's what. So I made sure its name reflected that.
Like most of my better decks, it has dramatically changed from what originally I intended it to be. It started out as your average elf deck: basically, build up a horde of elves and attack with them. However, it somehow morphed into a fast combo deck. It uses the common Staff of Domination + Priest of Titania combo, but it also combos with Cloudstone Curio + Aluren + Elvish Visionary. There are many other minor combos and synergies. Basically it's just a matter of time before something combos off; and usually it just takes a few turns. It's even possible for a turn 2 win, but it's highly unlikely.
You'll also notice the insanely low amount of land in the deck at a whopping 9. All I need is one forest or a Land Grant. From there on my elves can produce all the mana I need.
Pitiful Elves, 60 cards:
Creatures (30)
4x Birchlore Rangers
4x Elvish Visionary
4x Fyndhorn Elves
4x Llanowar Elves
2x Lys Alana Huntmaster
4x Priest of Titania
4x Quirion Ranger
1x Timberwatch Elf
3x Wirewood Symbiote
Enchantments (4)
2x Aluren
2x Concordant Crossroads
Instants (4)
2x Naturalize
2x Wirewood Pride
Sorceries (8)
4x Glimpse of Nature
4x Land Grant
Land (9)
8x Forest
1x Pendelhaven
Other Spells (5)
3x Cloudstone Curio
2x Staff of Domination
If you have any suggestions, feel free to leave a comment.
On 4chan, certain things are inexplicably "word filtered" to other things. In this example, the number 7 gets changed to "over 9000". Now obviously the intention here was to list the numbers 0-9, thus giving no chance that the last numeral in the post (No. 123668657) would be anything but what he listed1. However, he forgot about the word filter and through a strange twist of fate, the post ended in a 7. Against nearly impossible odds, the truth that there is no God still came out.
Now that's poetic justice.
1: Since there are literally hundreds of posts every minute (or even second at times), it is impossible to actually know what number your post is going to end with. It's essentially random.
My Sea-Monkey debit card just arrived in the mail. Like I said before, I would have preferred the FSM card design. (That's a popular post of mine, at 2,173 views so far.)
If you're planning on submitting a custom card design with Wells Fargo, I suggest you increase the contrast before submitting it. The picture included in this post is the preview, not the actual card. The actual card seems to be a little washed-out and is a bit more yellow than the picture I submitted. Even seems a little blurry. But, I'm still happy with it. Like I keep saying, it's better than the default stagecoach picture.
As a side-note, I just noticed I've been blessed by the Prophet Bobby Henderson himself. He edited the FSM Bank Card post over at the Official FSM Church website to include the comment I made there. I feel so special now...
You really don't want to know how a shark is able to kick down a door to begin with. Just roll with it...
It took over a year since the Anonymous protests started, but the media is starting to investigate the cult of Scientology itself, instead of just the protests.
KESQ: Jeff Hawkins on Scientology
There might be hope yet.
The epic battle between Longcat and his arch-nemesis: Tacgnol. Probably will happen on the winter solstice of 2012.
In the game Spore, this is my spaceship fleet with the Vort empire (my main save).
This guy decided to jump out of his boat and walk on water like Jesus.
One door leads to safety, the other leads to certain death. Once a door is opened the other becomes locked; so you have to go through the one you choose. There are 2 people standing in front of you. You know that one always tells the truth, and one always lies, but you don't know which person is which. Both people know which door leads to safety and which one to certain death. You are allowed to ask only one of them one question. What is your question?
Well, my Flying Spaghetti Monster design was denied, but my second submission was accepted. While such a card would be, to say the least, a thing of beauty, it's kind of good it was rejected, if it was rejected for the reason you suppose. In that case, this is just more public acceptance of pastafarianism as a religion.
Presenting the Sea-Monkey Wells Fargo card1:
You may recognize the picture from my recent post about my Sea-Monkey food order. I would of course have preferred the FSM, but at least this way I have something unique. I get to carry around a picture of my sea-monkeys. And like the title says, it's better than the default stagecoaches.
I like what one of the comments said on the FSM card post:
If something as crazy as Scientology gets to be an official religion, then Pastafarianism should have no trouble. Seriously, I think I'd convert if Pastafarianism were an official religion (at least for the purpose of census polls.)
1: Sample version only. Not an actual card; not a valid card number or name.
I do get the joke... Pi is what's known as an irrational number because it doesn't end or repeat. i is a non-real number, the answer to sqrt(-1); a physical impossibility.
I haven't been to RatherGood.com for a while... I see Joel Veitch has been busy lately. The video below might be a little NSFW if you've got the volume very high.
Miso
Microsoft's opinion of open source programs and operating system. It's hard to compete with something that's free.
Have a lucky Friday the 13th.
This photo was taken very early on the morning1 of March 8th, from the deck at my dad's house.
I finally got the Alter Ego's Alter Ego achievement. You can see for yourself on my achievement page.
There's 10 different archetypes one can become when they enter Space Stage of the game. Each one has its own achievement when you play as it (the various "Passion" achievements). You get the Alter Ego achievement for playing as them all across all of your saved games.
Each of the 10 archetypes also has a "Hero" archetype for when you max out your ranking in Space. You get the Alter Ego's Alter Ego achievement when you have all 10 "Hero" achievements. It takes a long time...
According to the stats on the official Spore site, only 387 people out of over 1.3 million have the achievement. I'm one of them now.
Here's a list of the 10 archetypes in Spore:
That's not a mistake that Force and Order appear twice on that list. You can't find NPC empires that are Knights or Wanderers. And if you go visit your saved games from a different save, your Knights will appear to be Warriors and your Wanderers will appear to be Diplomats. I'm not sure if that's by design or something they overlooked when making the game.
For information on how to get each archetype, the Spore Wiki has a great page on archetypes.
Holy bitch... That took some coordination.
Human Pixels Perform Huge Real
Quick Note: For those of you in regions that observe daylight savings time, it's time to bump your clocks forward an hour.
The head of the Galactic Confederation (76 planets around larger stars visible from here) (founded 95,000,000 yrs ago, very space opera) solved overpopulation (250 billion or so per planet -- 178 billion on average) by mass implanting.
He caused people to be brought to Teegeeack (Earth) and put an H Bomb on the principal volcanoes (Incident 2) and then the Pacific area ones were taken in boxes to Hawaii and the Atlantic Area ones to Las Palmas and there "packaged."
His name was Xenu. He used renegades. Various misleading data by means of circuits etc. was placed in the implants. When through with his crime Loyal Officers (to the people) captured him after 6 years of battle and put him in an electronic mountain trap where he still is.
"They" are gone. The place (Confed.) has since been a desert.
Just as plausible as God creating man. Actually more so because at least cats exist.
What is it about sea-monkeys? Whenever I mention them in a post, they seem to hijack the comments; it's all anyone ever talks about then. Not to mention one of my most popular posts (ever) is about sea-monkeys. I've noticed a similar thing on other blogs that have talked about sea-monkeys. Even if it's just a single short sentence, all the comments will be about sea-monkeys and totally ignore the rest of the post. The image to the right was taken just yesterday (March 5th), and is 2 of my adult male sea-monkeys. Click it to view full.
As some of you may remember from an old post, I've had sea-monkeys for a very long time, easily 11 years now. I started to run low on food, and instead of buying another starter kit again for just the food packet, I decided to order directly from Transcience Corporation.
I decided upon the Medicine Chest kit and a packet of Super Food. The Medicine Chest included 4 packets; Gro-Kwikly, Plasma III, Red Magic Vitamins, and Sea-Medic Medicine. I was most interested in the Red Magic Vitamins. It's suppose to turn the sea-monkeys red, so I thought maybe they will be easier to see.
Here's the fronts and backs of each of the 5 sea-monkey packets.
Click image to view full
All these different packets could just be a gimmick like my dad said. How I look at it is, I needed more food anyway, and these special packets cost just as much as a packet of regular food. So even if it is all the same stuff in the packets I'm not out anything. I'll keep an eye on my sea-monkeys and see if there's any change.
I mailed out my order on the night of 18th of January. It probably didn't get sent out until the 20th due to Martin Juther King, Jr's day on the 19th. It just arrived arrived on March 2nd. They say on their website to allow 28-35 days for delivery. Mine took 41-42 days (depending on how you want to calculate in the holiday).
One thing that was a bit upsetting is they didn't give it enough postage. I paid $4.00 shipping, the very least they could have did was put enough postage on the damn thing. I had to pay an extra $0.20 postage due because it was "non standard mail".
This is the envelope it came in, complete with "Postage Due" and "non standard mail" stamps.
Click image to view full
I also expected it to come in one of those bubble-wrap manila envelopes rather than just a standard envelope. It's really not too much to ask when you pay $4.00 shipping.
For more information about sea-monkeys themselves and how to care for them, check out my More About Sea-Monkeys post.
I think the correct question would have been "When do you come from?" Might have had a little more exciting answer.
And now the flip-side of Sunday's Ten Signs list. I told you I'd seen the version of this that addresses atheists. I tell you what, if this is the best they can come up with, I don't know why there's still any argument about it...
I'll provide my answers to each one of these.
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Persistence, stubbornness... Call it what you will. The reward is a cookie.
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