Friday, November 27, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Breakfast is on the other guy...
Labels:
Credit Cards,
McDonalds,
The Real
So, this morning I went to McDonalds as I do every morning before work. I pick up food for everyone at the store. This morning, however, something amusing/disturbing happened.
When I went to pay, I noticed that the card terminal already said "Transaction Processing...". Not thinking too much of it, I swiped my card and it approved. When I glanced at the receipt, I noticed that the four digits did not match my card. I suddenly realized what happened.
After talking to the store manager and the friendly people behind the counter, we figured out that the gentleman before me, mistakingly swiped his card in the wrong card terminal when he ordered. This lead to the card information being stored in the terminal until I later came in and ordered, and then paid with a credit card. Instead of his swipe data being dumped after a timeout, or replaced when I swiped my card, it simply used the existing information for the transaction. Since he was long since gone, there was no way to reverse the charge or refund him, as they require the physical card to do that.
Ultimately, McDonalds is now aware of this potentially overdrafting logic flaw in the credit card terminals, and we got breakfast on an unwitting individual.
Let this be a lesson, be careful where you stick it, as you may end up paying for more than you expected.
Also, check your receipts and make sure the card terminal you've used has the normal default greeting after you're done.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Successful Build for trunk (3008)
Labels:
Second Life,
Snowglobe
Linux:
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
Darwin:
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
CYGWIN:
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
Darwin:
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
CYGWIN:
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
Saturday, November 21, 2009
As the Stargate Turns
Labels:
Stargate Universe
I've been giving it a chance... I really have. I've waited this long. However, now that the mid-season closer is coming up, I have to say... I'm very disappointed with Stargate Universe.
The hype and concept for SGU was excellent. Stargate, as a Space Opera, similar to Battlestar Galactica and Firefly. However, the majority of the episodes are closer to Soap Operas such as As the World Turns and Days of Our Lives. The focus of the episodes is less on getting home, discovering the ship, or understanding why the ship even exists... and more on who is sleeping with whom, who's stealing what, and who hates whom.
While drama in a series is necessary, there is also a needed balance between character development, pure drama, environment development, and action. Thus far, SGU has managed to put drama in every other aspect of a show. They've even managed to cram drama in the middle of a really hopeful technobabble moment.
I understand the need to draw in new audience members, and this gives the opportunity to cover old ground, but they're also coddling the new audience. The rehash at the beginning of each episode is pretty much destroying any sense of mystery from the upcoming episode. Time is a prime example. Much of the rehash sequence focused on getting the ice water. So it was painfully obvious that the ice was the source of whatever was making them sick.
I also understand that this show is supposed to be about imperfect people in an extreme situation, but there's some serious overplay of the imperfections. So far, they're stumbling their way through each episode... the only reason they're still alive is either luck, or some unseen force guiding them like children.
I'm going to continue to watch and support this new series. I realize the entire first season is already "in the can". Season 2 stands the best chance of seeing the results of the fan's feedback and criticisms. We also don't stand a chance in seeing a Season 2 unless we continue to watch the rest of this season. So, I'm here for the long haul. Hoping for a renewal and for a Season 2 that adjusts the balance between Stargate and Soap.
The hype and concept for SGU was excellent. Stargate, as a Space Opera, similar to Battlestar Galactica and Firefly. However, the majority of the episodes are closer to Soap Operas such as As the World Turns and Days of Our Lives. The focus of the episodes is less on getting home, discovering the ship, or understanding why the ship even exists... and more on who is sleeping with whom, who's stealing what, and who hates whom.
While drama in a series is necessary, there is also a needed balance between character development, pure drama, environment development, and action. Thus far, SGU has managed to put drama in every other aspect of a show. They've even managed to cram drama in the middle of a really hopeful technobabble moment.
I understand the need to draw in new audience members, and this gives the opportunity to cover old ground, but they're also coddling the new audience. The rehash at the beginning of each episode is pretty much destroying any sense of mystery from the upcoming episode. Time is a prime example. Much of the rehash sequence focused on getting the ice water. So it was painfully obvious that the ice was the source of whatever was making them sick.
I also understand that this show is supposed to be about imperfect people in an extreme situation, but there's some serious overplay of the imperfections. So far, they're stumbling their way through each episode... the only reason they're still alive is either luck, or some unseen force guiding them like children.
I'm going to continue to watch and support this new series. I realize the entire first season is already "in the can". Season 2 stands the best chance of seeing the results of the fan's feedback and criticisms. We also don't stand a chance in seeing a Season 2 unless we continue to watch the rest of this season. So, I'm here for the long haul. Hoping for a renewal and for a Season 2 that adjusts the balance between Stargate and Soap.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
When Fignuts Attack
Labels:
Second Life,
Subnova
For some unknown reason, some little fignut decided it would be a good idea to hit my network with a DDoS attack. My servers were offline for about 4 hours. The attack appeared to be targeting my upstream fiber router, which is managed by my ISP.
Things appear to have returned to normal, it's just irritating when these twits do this nonsense. It accomplishes nothing.
So yeah, all the stuff I host was humped for about 4 hours but is fine now.
Things appear to have returned to normal, it's just irritating when these twits do this nonsense. It accomplishes nothing.
So yeah, all the stuff I host was humped for about 4 hours but is fine now.
Friday, November 13, 2009
You can't stop the signal...
I'm now on the wave.
Still getting the hang of this thing, but so far... I like it.
From now on, I'm calling the sum of Google's services (Gmail, Reader, Blogger, Wave, etc) "The Cortex".
Shiny.
Still getting the hang of this thing, but so far... I like it.
From now on, I'm calling the sum of Google's services (Gmail, Reader, Blogger, Wave, etc) "The Cortex".
Shiny.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Successful Build for 1.2 (2987)
Labels:
Second Life,
Snowglobe
Linux:
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
Darwin:
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
CYGWIN:
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
Darwin:
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
CYGWIN:
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
Friday, November 6, 2009
Snowglobe + Beastly Machine + Deferred Rendering = Hotness
So, now that I've got Syntax up and running... I've been running Snowglobe in Deferred mode pretty much full time now.
It's cexi.
Actually, I think its the future of SL. The eye-candy it unlocks is truly extraordinary. I can't bring myself to turn it off, and return to the flat, dull world of the standard rendering method. Due to this, I've found myself building, lighting, texturing, pretty much everything to look its best in Deferred. Sadly, this rendering system isn't even officially beta, let alone something just anyone can run.
This boils down to... why am I in SL? To have fun. The fact I can run Deferred at 20fps+ and see all the pretty eye-candy is worth it to me. The few places I'm building are being optimized for the Deferred engine, and that's the way it is.
Sorry to all you who haven't taken the plunge to get a top-notch graphics system yet, but I just couldn't enjoy SL without the magnificent power of per-pixel lighting, shadows, proper bump-mapping, and proper shine effects.
For those of you who are able to run Deferred most of the time, visit the Legacy level in Deshima and the Ouroboros currently under development in Caprica. IM me in-world for the exact coordinates.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Snowglobe Trunk Build
Labels:
Second Life,
Snowglobe
Linux:
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
Darwin:
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
CYGWIN:
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
Darwin:
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
CYGWIN:
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Snowglobe Trunk Build
Labels:
Second Life,
Snowglobe
Linux:
http://secondlife.com/developers/opensource/downloads/2009/trunk/2958/Snowglobe-i686-1.2.0.2958.tar.bz2
http://secondlife.com/developers/opensource/downloads/2009/trunk/2958/good-build.Linux
Darwin:
http://secondlife.com/developers/opensource/downloads/2009/trunk/2958/Snowglobe_1_2_0_2958_SNOWGLOBETESTBUILD.dmg
http://secondlife.com/developers/opensource/downloads/2009/trunk/2958/good-build.Darwin
CYGWIN:
http://secondlife.com/developers/opensource/downloads/2009/trunk/2958/Snowglobe_1-2-0-2958_Setup.exe
http://secondlife.com/developers/opensource/downloads/2009/trunk/2958/good-build.CYGWIN
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
Darwin:
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
CYGWIN:
http://secondlife.com/
http://secondlife.com/
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