Found on the Internet

Got this form Paulo Coelho’s blog:

Number 7
Life is sexually transmitted.

Number 6
Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

Number 5
Men have two emotions: Hungry and Horny. If you see him without an erection, make him a sandwich.

Number 4
Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to use the Internet and they won’t bother you for weeks.

Number 3
Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

Number 2
All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

Number 1
In the ’60’s, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

These are interesting takes on life; quite true too. Do you agree?

Hmm…Right now, I’m hungry. Hahahaha!

Quadrox: Yet another Tetris clone

I had to make one myself. I just had to.

I just started last Friday and it didn’t take long to get it going with XNA. I just wanted it to behave similar to Tetris DS + other rules I picked up from Heboris, and that took some time… (plus, I wanted to watch Madagascar 2 & Quantum of Solace, too, and did. :D ).

If you want the game, it’s here: Quadrox v. 1.1. Quadrox v. 1.1.1.

Installation:

  • Unzip Quadrox_v1.1.zip into a temporary folder (doesn’t really matter where, as long as you remember where it is).
  • Open that folder and run “setup.exe” and continue with the installation.
  • If you don’t have the prerequisites ( .NET & XNA frameworks, the setup will download them)
  • When it’s done, it will automatically run the game in windowed mode.
  • I’m not sure but I think the temporary folder can be deleted at this point…

Uninstallation:

  • It can be found in the Add/Remove programs in XP and in Vista’s counterpart (not sure what it is, sorry).

Just a summary on the project:

Motivations

  • Something to play while waiting for a download job. (Does not require an internet connection & can just pick up and play)
  • Tetris with my desired ruleset
  • Simple UI that does not distract you from the game
  • Practice C# and using XNA, getting ready for the Zune :P
  • Non-intrusive app
  • Lightweight (well it is, except for the need for the .NET & XNA frameworks… )

Features

  • Can select starting level: 1-30
  • Can spin the current block while it hasn’t been locked.
  • Can hold blocks
  • Always in “Endless mode” – You don’t stop after reaching level N.
  • Shows you your next 7 blocks = more strategy, less luck.
  • Can run in windowed or full screen mode
  • “Secret” INVISIBLE MODE – toggled at the Game Over screen (F9). Well, not a secret anymore…

Known Bugs:

  • Rotation when trying to slip in some bricks does not behave as intended. (Thus some S/Z/T-Spins might not be possible)
  • Starting position of some blocks may seem lower or higher than others.

Future of the Project:

  • Add pre-spinning blocks before the blocks spawn on top.
  • Add ability to pause the game – hahahaha!
  • [Change UI]
  • [Might add some sounds]

If you find any bugs, have comments/suggestions, please leave a comment or contact me at goofydelinquent [AT] gmail [DOT] com. Thanks.

Can’t have too many cameras

I want three cameras: one compact, one enthusiast cam and one pro (and maybe throw in some lomos in there).

Compact

I had a pocket camera. It was a Canon Digital IXUS 700. I loved that camera! It was handed down to my lil bro and I think he’s enjoying it much (along with his Canon Powershot G9).

For a point-and-shoot camera, it had quite a feature list and worked quite well for me. I was able to get some great shots from it, even macro shots! Focusing at a specific point was just hard. What I did was to focus on one point and then adjust the camera to where I want it focused using that setting.

Right now, I settle with a phone cam, my Sony Ericcson K800i. Still, pretty good in my opinion. It’s a good 3.2 megapixel camera with a xenon flash bulb. Not bad at all!

Enthusiast

I had an enthusiast cam and moved on to another. It was a Canon Powershot G7 and then a Canon Powershot G9 not long after (main difference that tipped the scale being that the latter could use the RAW image format!).

The G9 brings a lot of other features into the picture: aperture priority, shutter speed priority, auto mode, manual mode, two custom presets, bracketing, manual focus, movies, and more. It’s almost like a DSLR and can shoot videos!

Aside from that, I could use the Canon LA-DC58H to use accessory lenses and filters. There also lens converters like wide angle and tele-converters. I don’t those and well, I don’t really them right now.

I have two main complaints my G9. One is that the lens casts shadows on the subject when I use the built-in flash especially when zoomed in (maybe I should get an external flash…). Two is that shots become noisy at upward 800 ISO. The rest are limitations of a non-SLR.

(I have one other minor complaint: there is some image distortion as I zoom in. Noticeable but tolerable.)

Pro

I’ve never had one of these. Right now though, there’s an old Nikon camera in my bedroom and uses film (maybe I should really get this fixed (if it does need fixing) & cleaned up) (pics are below). I don’t have darkroom though and manipulating film can be quite challenging. Maybe just get this fixed so it’s still at a usable state in case I or someone wants to pick it up again….

I’ve wanted two cameras before: the Nikon D80 and the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi. Then, maybe some Sigma lenses and some filters (IR is pretty awesome).

Now, the Canon EOS 5D Mark II enters! Check out the site, the specs are really neat!

Key Specifications:

  • New 21.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor with improved EOS Integrated Cleaning System (E.I.C.S.)
  • New Full HD 1080 resolution movie recording
  • 3.9 frames per second continuous shooting
  • High performance DIGIC 4 providing superb image quality
  • Maximum 310 large JPEG images in a single burst with a UDMA card
  • 3.0” VGA (920k dots) Clear View LCD
  • ISO 100-6400 (expansion from 50 up to 25,600)
  • 9 AF points + 6 Assist AF points

Specs are drool-worthy and of course, come at a price. Migs & I talked about it for a while and thought $3500 isn’t that bad and in fact, gives you a lot of bang for your buck.

I doubt I’ll be getting this DSLR any time soon though (or maybe this exact one for that matter). This doesn’t really fit into my budget. What this does however is to know what to expect from upcoming cameras.

There are old but still good DSLRs out there. I’ll probably get one of those.

From what I’ve seen, a good camera can stand the test of time. A DSLR may be years old but if it was good before, it’ll still be good now (unless of course if it’s broken). A good camera with a good image sensor can be your friend for quite a long time.

Good cameras don’t get replaced. New ones are just added to the collection.