Link: The Which Shakespeare Play Are You? Test written by macbee on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test View My Profile(macbee)

-- Steve should probably see this play sometime; sounds nifty.

Solar system simulator. And not just for our own system either.

-- Steve could stare at this thing for hours.

Because I haven't posted in a while, some fluff:

Fenix, Delta Squad cleared of war crimes charges.

-- Steve's wondering if Marcus is any relation to Phoenix Wright.

Nothing important, just revelling in the ability to finally blog from my balcony and sip my morning coffee to the accompaniment of birdsong. (And some wind noise from the traffic, but that's oddly relaxing too. sort of like a shore breeze.)

-- Steve's going to have to concentrate to get anything done today. Hmm... laze today and bust a hump tomorrow when it's rainy, perhaps?

Couple sues Google for invasion of privacy and thereby opens itself to exposure in the press regarding the suit.

-- Steve's wondering if it wouldn't have been better to just quietly ask Google to take down the pictures.

Right at this very moment Jane McGonigal is on TVO discussing ARGs and the workplace.

Hey, Jinxie, they put up a clip of yours from World Without Oil. Yer famous, lad.

-- Steve'll be semi-liveblogging this... stay tuned.

http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2008/04/03/ironic-sans-the-bulbdial-clock/

Take 3 LED bulbs and put them on concentric circular tracks, centered around a gnomon. It's a sundial-in- reverse.

-- Steve doubts its practicality, but loves the magnitude of its geekiness.

(Found via Wil Wheaton's blog newsfeed here on LJ. Linked to the source blog. Image is off my bandwidth, though.)

-- Steve loves the Internet.

Xbox's spring releases... I may just reskin my old console to match the Xbox Vintage, myself, and the Wireless Helmet is kinda cool.

Blizzard was busy today, first revealing a new Terran infantry model in Starcraft 2 and then a new player class in World of Warcraft.

So far Bungie hasn't announced any new game content, but it has announced it's looking to hire for new positions within the company; a multidisciplinary choreographer, a 3D-UI engineer with experience in the field of dance, and an engineer experienced in emulation of Dreamcast hardware. (Alas, those positions must have filled since I spotted them. Who knew there was such a glut of candidates?)

-- Steve's enjoying the big news surge today.

ThinkGeek releases dual-deck Betamax/HD-DVD converter.

-- Steve'll take two.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/01/npenguin101.xml

-- Steve just saw it on the morning news. Majestic, no?

Found via Kotaku, new playable race in Lord of the Rings Online to be announced tomorrow.

-- Steve'll try to keep current on all the game news traditionally released about now.

1) I'm already unhealthily aware of how much electricity I consume.

2) I've replaced every incandescent I can in my apartment with compact fluorescent bulbs, my thermostat is set to 16°C (about 60°F) when I'm out and 19 (68) when I'm in, I use air conditioning sparingly and prefer natural air circulation when possible, I often use my 30W UMPC for computing instead of my 750W desktop, and I eye my hydro bill like a hawk. (A bad month for me is $80. Usually it's $35-60.) Cutting down below that means nothing in either long- or short-term.

3) I have exactly one day off this week, and that's tomorrow. I'm not writing off tonight.

4) It just looks like a stunt to me.

-- Steve's not saying don't do it. He's just saying why he won't be doing it.

My Personality

Neuroticism	65
Extraversion	11
Openness to Experience	60
Agreeableness	65
Conscientiousness	27

You are a calm person who is considered almost fearless by some, however you are sensitive about what others think of you. Your concern about rejection and ridicule cause you to feel shy and uncomfortable around others. You are easily embarrassed and often feel ashamed. Your fears that others will criticize or make fun of you are exaggerated and unrealistic, but your awkwardness and discomfort may make these fears a self-fulfilling prophecy. You tend not to talk much and prefer to let others control the activities of groups. Familiar routines are good, but sometimes you like to spice up your life with a bit of adventure or activity. You dislike confrontations and are perfectly willing to compromise or to deny your own needs in order to get along with others, however you feel superior to those around you and sometimes tend to be seen as arrogant by other people. You are not an overly cautious person. You will think about alternatives and consequences but make up your mind fairly quickly.

Take a Personality Test now or view the full Personality Report. PureAwakening Jewelry.

-- Steve will neither confirm nor deny the report.

I burned my stew. Dammit.

Looks like I didn't get all the excess flour off the cubed beef, and so some of it adhered to the bottom of the pot. I've got the pot back on the stovetop now, simmering a mixture of water, dish soap, and vinegar to loosen the blackening on the bottom.

The Belgian chocolate loaf I picked up is tasty, though.

-- Steve found the stew still edible, just less of it and with a harsh, smokey flavour. Definitely not to be repeated.

Well, the profit-share results for the last half were announced and I indulged myself a bit yesterday with some man-shopping; obviously my choices were guided by the Fates, as just about everything I set out to get was on sale!

I'd had my eye on this mp3 player for a while, as my older MPIO is pretty battered and the battery hatch needs to be held closed with a rubber band. The Samsung YP-U3 got good reviews for durability, as most of the controls are touch-based and there's no battery hatch. The USB plug at the bottom retracts on a slider switch and the whole is very compact and light... and I have yet to run down the internal battery, admittedly only after one day of experimenting. Very sexy blue OLED display, excellent FM reception, and it's very small and light; indeed, my headphones weigh more than it does. And best of all, Future Shop had just cut the price of the 2GB model by 40%... so it came to just under $50.

The downside is that the audio quality seems to be not quite as good as the MPIO, though I'm still working with the settings to see if I can adjust that. It's a good deal more adjustable than my old mp3 player.

I also picked up the 4-disc Tremors DVD set (actually 2 double-sided discs, but what the heck) and the 2-disc Hellboy DVD set for some brain-candy today. A pity they were on the two-for-one rack, but more fun for me! Of more mundane nature, I picked up a replacement case for my Q1 by the simple expedient of getting a travel case for a 7" portable DVD player (having, grr, wrecked the zipper on the Case Logic portable DVD case I was using earlier) and am looking forward to trying it out today... this one came at full retail price, alas.

I then popped over to good-ol' Canadian Tire to burn off the last of my Christmas gift cards, and got a floor lamp kit (half price, $34.99) that can accomodate my compact fluorescent trilight bulb... this will replace an ancient table lamp my parents handed down to me, whose socket used to work with CFs but now apparently doesn't. Purely by circumstance I noted that matching models for my single deck chair were in, and so I scored one (20% off, $24.99) to make a pair on the balcony. Seeing as I still have more credit on the gift card, and remembering how small they fold down now that I see the pair of them out there, I may pick up a third to keep aside for the occasional party; some prefer to sit while getting their nicotine fix.

After that, a mad grocery binge to pick up the fixings for last night's spaghetti dinner (served at 8, because as usual things took longer than expected) and today's beef stew. After all, follow-up to retail therapy should be a course of comfort-food therapy.

So this is what it feels like to be relaxed... I'd almost forgotten.

-- Steve'll have to get dressed to face the day soon, and then try out his new music player and "computer" case on a photo-walk about town to catch this very-early-Spring day. And maybe capture that blue sky, 'cause it could be the last one for a while according to the forecast...

The quiz also said I had many of the attributes for Sofia (I bring wisdom, creativity and cleverness to our mission. I am one of the knowledge-seekers.) and Sophrosune (I bring balance, self-control and an open mind to our mission. I am one of the advisors.)

-- Steve thinks this one is reasonably close, but would welcome any second opinions.

Just posting something now to express my contempt for this so-called "one day boycott" of LJ. Pthbtbtbt. Neener-neener.

-- Steve's tired of petulant emo whining on the Internet. It wasn't designed for it; it was made for pr0n.

PS: hope to have some real posting content later... maybe some photos from a walk about town on this holiday.

Found via Kotaku, the Weighted Companion Cube has been spotted emerging from a portal in Toronto, on Bloor St. between Yonge and Euclid.

-- Steve'd still love to get a plushy version someday.

Spotted via Kotaku, "real life" Spy Hunter:



-- Steve spent more quarters on that game than any other... and it looks like he wasn't the only one.