so it goes.

It has been one month since my last post. Don't worry I'm still alive, if you cared :p
And don't think that I'm going to make up for all those missed posts. Your nuts if you think i would, I do have a life. Allot has happen, more rockets went off, even one blew up, there will be a you tube video soon. I been busy with school and i still want to post some of my homework, so you still can expect that. As for coding, i had no time, but it still something i want to do and post. I have a small program that is a proof of concept that i might show off. OK that summed up the pass month.

But the main reason i post today is in memory of one of the greatest writers. He died on this date last year. Kurt Vonnegut. At first i never was a big reader, but this author has changed my out look on reading. And in his memory i have read about 5 or so of his stories in the last two weeks. Kurt Vonnegut is a prolific writer with a quite a few of works with a range of themes and messages. Just because he has alot of works, does not mean they were put together in a rush. Keep in mind that most of his works are short stories and he had lived along successful life. From a scout in World War II, that got held as a POW during the Firebombing of Dresden, Writer, teacher and artist. Kurt Vonnegut is well... Kurt. Just like i have said before to truly understand a person read his works. Even though he disagress that Billy Pilgrem is not a represtive of him self in Slaughterhouse Five, obviously his fealings and what he saw is expresed though his writtings. Another event, that i think that shaped his life, was the lost of his mother, at a young age due to suiced.

He was a great writer
so it goes.

Darik's Boot and Nuke

A quick post on, Darik's Boot and Nuke, AKA DBAN for short. I had the pleasure to use this program last week, and i felt very confident with it. It it has the power to fill your hard drive with random data, or do a zero fill, also know as low level format. There are several option on how you want your hard drive wiped clean, depending on how good of a job you want. First there is two types of pseudo random generators. Then there are 6 different wipe methods. Even one that applies to the Department of Defence standards. This program is great since it makes several pass to make sure the data is wiped. Do a clean wipe and zero fill is great, it can help remove stuck bytes that no longer want to flip. After using this program, i will always use it before a clean install of a OS.

Black and White 2

I have been hooked playing a new game. Well its not new new, but new to me. It's called Black and White 2. I never player or heard of it before. I came across this game from watching Discovery Channel Rise of the Video Game show.  The game base is  similar to, Civilization, Age of Empire, and Empire Earth. At the same time it is very unique. The creators emphasise, that player has the power. You play as a god, and you have the power to be either a good, evil or any where between.  Playing as God you have total power, to harvest food, build buildings or have you followers do it them self. Another feature i like is that you can create huge armies. While other similar games limit your civilization to 200 or so people, In Black and White its unlimited.

The graphics are not bad at all, specially when you consider it is a few years old. The game also has a physics engine, to aid in make a realistic world. This is used when you throw objects around like, trees, rocks or even people. Another graphic element is how the world changes dynamically with weather and time. It also changes by how you play; If you a good God the buildings in the town will light up, with flowers and gold trim, But if your a bad or evil god the town will become dark and gloomy. How you place your buildings has allot to do with how the town will look. If they bare to close together the town becomes over crowed, slummy  city. 

The best feature in the game is the navigation and interface. Every thing is controlled by your mouse. The movements around the world is like Google Earth. Scroll wheel acts as a zoom, Holding a down the right mouse button, anchor the your godly hand allowing to push or pull away from that point. To tilt and rotate you use the scroll wheel button to act as an anchor. The left button is the cation button that allows you to rip up trees, build buildings or drag out roads. Building is unique since there is no need to go though a menu since, you can drag the blue print from other buildings.

This game is very cool, the only thing i could do with out is the Creature. In the game you get the animal that you have to train, to be good or evil. It can help build buildings, gather food or even take out small armies. You can also let him run wild, if you wish.

I played the demo two times. The first time as a good god, being as nice as i can. The second time i played as evil as possible, with huge armies conquering other towns. I found it harder to be evil, even though you were allowed to torcher people or sacrifice them. At first it was hard to over come the morality of it all. But after you slapped and threw some people around you become more use to it. Next thing you know your throwing boulders in your own town.

I have two videos to help show the coolness of the game. I don't think neither of then show the total power of the game. The first video is the preview trailer from the creator LionHead. The last one is just a you tube video of some game play and review by IGN.

Tin man

I wanted to write a review on Tin Man yesterday, but time was short and plans changed. Instead of re-watching Tin Man, i watch the new Die Hart. Which was good, by the way.

I was about to say/type, Go check out the movie online, but it seems they are no longer showing The Tin Man any more. It was nice of them to have all the episode on line while the others were airing. But i can no longer find the link, this sucks, since i my next blog was going to be on how FireFox users not treated equally. (it had to deal with the video FireFox and Internet explorer.