What's your number?

One of my most favorite guests on Coast to Coast AM is Glynis McCants, the Numbers Lady. She is a bonafide "Numerologist", meaning that she breaks down a person's birthday to figure out their personality and path in life. Most of the time I figure this stuff is bullshit. I don't put much credence to it, but in this case Glynis has such a fun attitude when she explains her system that I decided to find out what my numbers are. She has info on how to figure them out on her website...

My birthday is March 23, 1983. So to find my "Lifepath Number" I had to add the numbers across the board: (3) + ( 2 + 3) + (1 + 9 + 8 + 3) = 29, and then again to reduce the numbers to a one digit, 2+9 = 11, and then again 1+1 = 2. Finally getting 2. So I'm a 2 Lifepath, which means:

TWOS want peace. They make good mediators.They are very loyal, and when they say that they love you,count on it!They welcome companionship and the chance to share their lives with someone special.The flip side is that if they feel threatened or pushed to the wall, they become the terrible 2s. But ultimately, they do not want conflict.

I'll leave it up to you to decided if that describes me or not. Now I'll do my "Attitude Number", which is my birth month and my day added across the board. 3 + 2 + 3 = 8.

The 8 Attitude, More often than not, when I see an 8 Attitude,They are reading Investor's magazine or brainstorming on how to make some money, and establish financial security. If they have family, then they want to be a good provider. The flipside of the 8 Attitude is that money can seem completely unattainable. Money will slip right through their fingers.The 8 Attitude has no problem telling you what they really think.They can be a little too blunt, so it is best to keep their sense of humor and focus on the positive things in life!

So what are your Lifepath and Attitude numbers?

News Flash: Wendy's introduces new frosty.

The new Vanilla flavored frosty hits the streets sometime next month. It's a welcomed addition to the menu. I've always thought that a chilled vanilla would compliment the original flavor well. It's kind of a no brainer and I'm suprised it took Wendy's so damn long to finally introduce it. Well, good on them!

It'll be a nice treat in the heat of August.

L8er gators.

-grc

O meus deus!

OMG, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back! It's a CGI movie, which is.. odd (the live action movies were the best!), but this will certainly do! This is MY type of movie. It looks like there's a movie for everyone coming up. Transformers for some (not really a big part of my childhood, but I'm still psyched about it) and now there's TNMT! Woohoo!

Hopefully they don't fuck it up! :)

Oh, and there's also this little tid bit about Ghostbusters 3, which would blow my socks off even more then TNMT... it sounds like there still might be a chance for it, lets be hopeful.

F-u-c-king sweet.!

News from Valve Software:

As you might have noticed if you've been watching some of the gaming news sites, yesterday we announced a few new surprises about Half-Life 2: Episode Two. The first surprise is a new game called Portal which is best described by the video coming out next week. The second big surprise is that Team Fortress 2 will be included with Episode Two. Look for that video next week as well. And the final surprise is that all of these are coming out for PC, Xbox 360 and the PS3.

But guess what!? Half-Life 2: Episode 2 is gonna include both PORTAL and TEAM FORTRESS 2. What a package!

Johnny-Jumping-Monkey-Eater! Holy fuck that is awesome.

First I'd like to say that I really like the new art style TF2 is taking.. I really dig the 60's spy-comic-villian look. It rules. Both videos are now on the net, the TF2 video and the Portal video. Portal looks great! It's like a super-3D-shooter-puzzle-game.

wow.. what a package, HL2-ep2, TF2, and Portal.. wow and best of all? Valve claims that all of this will be out in the Fourth Quarter or 2006. We shall see.

Edit: Instead of watching the portal trailer on Gamespot, download it via Steam! You won't be sorry!

The Lumberjack Fair was going on today...

so I went down there with Beth

and we got some food

some very expensive food

then there was this river monster! with a long neck that came out of the St. Criox and everyone was fighting it

throwing rocks and sticks at it

and people were getting eaten!

and it was chaos

then a wizard in a blue robe decended from the sky

and casted a spell of warding and sent that river-monster to hell!

it was a-w-e-s-ome

now I'm drinking sugar

water

well. Dr. Pepper

:-D

The government is not mom.

Where does the government get off... grrrr... fucking government.

I heard this quote on a podcast I listen to: "The government is not mom." I like this quote a lot, it seems to reflect my view of how the government should act. I don't want the government to regulate my morality, that's what the church is for, and I ignore them easily enough. I don't think the government should take care of us when we're sick, either. They always seem to screw things up when they try to help. So, bugger off Government, plz, thx much fukkerz.

Anyway, I just wanted to post this quote. I liked it, so I wanted to share it. Enjoy.

edit: Thought maybe the government should consider giving us a little bit of universal health care... This doesn't mean they would prescribe what medicines we should take, but rather use the money that they are using to blow the shit out of other countries and use it on us instead. Ah well, nevermind, they'd probably fuck up health care up anyway... though the private sector is doing a fine job of that on their own... benifits my ass.

HL2: Ep 1 - Impressed.

So I beat Half-life 2: Episodes 1 a couple days ago... I didn't think I was going to pick it up a first, but in the end I'm glad I did. Suprisingly enough Valve kept the game-play fresh and exciting... the scene at the elevator was scary as hell! It's been a while since I felt like I was struggling for survival in a game! and the last in-game zombies to freak me out were the ones in the original Thief...those damn big zombies and thier little "present"! So, I'm hooked.. I'm totally going to check out episode 2. It's time to fight back!!11

So, one of th sweetest things about HL2:E1 is that it's bought through Steam... now I know some people bitch about Steam, but I happen to think it's a great system. I love being able to buy a game whenever I want, from a trusted source, without having to leave my house, AND be able to play it after a few hours when it's finally downloaded. genius.. but THIS is what makes Steam even more cool. Live stats of players playing Episode 1... with this information Valve can make their future installment even better... they have already tweaked Ep 1... it seems that a lot of people were having trouble at the elevator scene (lol, fuckers weren't trying hard enough) and so Valve toned it down.. good I guess for the masses, and I guess those harder core gamers can turn the difficulty up.. so everybody wins. It's kind of shocking that only 32% of players have completed the game... but.. I'm one of them percents! wooohoo..

Alright, so I'm really looking forward to Episode 2, I hope it comes out soon.

Oh, btw I didn't spell check this post cause I didn't fucking want to. later/

Straight to the point.

iamhrh (Matt Mousseau) posted this comment under this digg article, $200,000,000,000 isn't enough. We need more money. Let's tax the Internet.

"I realize that most of you I am emailing this to probably won't fully understand alot of the technical aspects of what is at stake here, but I wanted to pass this information on none the less. This is a very important issue to me, and it should be something that all of you are aware of as well. If we don't want America to wind up playing second fiddle technologically, it is imperitive that we STOP allowing the telecommunication giants from walking all over us. Did you know they have actually set up FAKE grassroots organizations to decieve the public?

The topic under debate lately in congress has been over a concept called "Net Neutrality." What this means is that internet providers (we're talking the backbone of the internet in the US: AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, SBC (Now Merged with AT&T), and Qwest) would like to begin charging extra to "guarantee" service to certain types of content providers. The primary types of internet traffic that will be the first to suffer: VoIP and IPTV.

Chances are you've at least heard of VoIP, though I doubt that most of you have heard of IPTV. In essence, these are ground-breaking changes to the way we talk with each other & the way we watch television. I'd love to go into more detail on both, but I'm going to use VoIP to explain what it is the Telcos are going to do if we let them.

VoIP is a technology that allows you to hold a telephone call over an internet connection. Why is this great? It opens up a vast number of new ways to communicate, first of all. For instance, VoIP technology is already enabling millions of businesses to allow their employees to work from home, while still being a part of the corporate phone system. Vonage provides home phone service with UNLIMITED calling to US, Canada, Mexico, and Several EU countries ... for $24.99 a month. Did I mention that it includes more calling features than your local phone provider could ever hope to offer?

Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? Oh, and did you know that your telephone service, as provided by AT&T (or whoever does your local phone service, Bellsouth or whatever) should be costing you around $0.016 a month? [Source: Techdirt]. They're scared to death that their business model is about to come crashing down, so they are kicking and screaming and screwing all of us. How?

Back to congress. Telcos are spending BILLIONS lobbying with (read: buying out) senators and representatives to prevent them from passing legislation preventing them from acting like the monopolies they are. They form decietful "grassroots" organizations that decieve those who buy it hook, line, and sinker. I'm honestly fed up. Fed up because I am unable to even PICK A DIFFERENT INTERNET PROVIDER, but the thing that burns me up most? Most of the billions that has kept these companies afloat has been STOLEN money. $2000 from the pocket of every tax-paying American (and that is a LOW estimate).

http://www.newnetworks.com/ShortSCANDALSummary.htm

I know I've rambled a little here, but this is absolutely critical to our continued success as a nation. We are now already about 10 years behind, and if we don't get our butts in gear, the generations to come won't be able to see the US as the great nation it can be.

If I can clear any questions up, or if you just want more information, please email me: iamhrh@gmail.com

Please forward this to people you know, talk to your senators & representatives, rant & rave because you just found out the same companies that rip you off every month also stole $2000 from you and are now using that stolen money to ensure that they will be able to continue screwing you in the future." (Matt Mousseau)

We seriously need to start doing something. We need to stop being cynical about our political outlook and get ourselves in gear. We need to preserve this internet that we hold dear. Here is a map and a list of all the senators who are for or against Net Neutrality. It looks like you folks in IL are pretty well covered, though Mr. Durbin needs a little bit more persuasion. All you with the gift of speach, give him a call and let him know that we fucking want to keep our internet creative and free.

Pirates and Emporers

I support what the Pirate Party stands for: Protecting our privacy and keeping the internet neutral, but they really need to change their name if the average joe is going to put any support behind them. Good luck to them, though!

The Pirate Party of the United States.

Let's face it, the internet has changed the world we live in. Information is constantly being sent across the planet at blazing speeds and technology is making a steady march of advancement whether the powers that be like it or not. This is truly a beautiful thing.

Sadly, our politicians have become old and dodgy. They sit on their high hill in Washington, under the sway of corporate interests, scheming on how to waste our tax dollars on inane pork barrel projects and botched wars. They can hardly grasp the beautiful culture that has developed on the internet, how 1337 that culture has become and how much it 'pwns teh heck out of everything'. These politicians, who seem to have no real sense of how vast and important the internet is, are seeking to put controls and regulations on how we use this wonderful creative force. Stances such as a tiered internet have been proposed at the request of the corporate infrastructure, whose greed seems to have no end. This behavior must end.

It's time for something new.

New politics for a new generation.

That is why I implore you to check out The Pirate Party of the United States of America. A political party born from the culture of the net, a net that this party wishes to protect. I urge you to visit their website, read their issues, and post on their forum your thoughts and opinions. Let your voice be heard and let it shape this fledgling organization so that it may reflect how much we all care about the internet and are willing to defend it.

Blade: The Series.

The Pilot for the Blade Television series is free on itunes. I'm downloading it right now... I know nothing about it. I wonder if Wesley Snipes will be playing Blade in the television series? I guess I'll find out and I'll let you guys know if it's any good.

Action RPGs on the PC.

So, all the reviews I've read on Oblivion rate it as one of the best Action RPGs out there. Eric has told me that it's a great game. That there is a lot of content, that the graphics are amazing, and that it's a blast to play. Why then have I seemingly skipped over this awesome mind blowing RPG?

Simple. Because I don't believe that it's as great as people claim it to be. I am probably very wrong about this, but here are my reasons for not picking it up:

1. The graphics are amazing. My system is not amazing. What's the point of running and an amazing game on a not so amazing system? Is it even worth it? If most of the game's value is actually in the graphics, then the value would be lost on me.
2. Scaled encounters. What the hell? This is my biggest beef with Oblivion and probably the main reason why I think this game would be lame. From what I understand every encounter that you meet is scaled in difficulty for your level. Where is the challenge? Why should I even try a risky break-in when I know any guards I'll meet will match my level difficulty. Pointless.
   
3. First person RPG's have always been lacking, in my opinion. I might be forgetting a mindblowing first person RPG that I've played that was actually cool, but as of right now I can't think of a single one I enjoyed. I just don't like RPG's from that point of view. I like to see them from the top down. Fallout, Diablo (1 and 2), and Baldur's Gate are all awesome RPGs.. and guess what? They aren't First Person.
   

So those are my reasons for not picking up Oblivion.. I just don't feel motivated by it, like it seems to have motivated the masses. Maybe it's a great game, and maybe when it's on sale I'll pick it up, but for now it's gonna stay out of my collection.

There is a point to this rant, however. That there IS an FP-RPG that has got my mouth watering, Dark Messiah: Might and Magic. I stumbled on some in-game videos in Valve's Media section on Steam, one for the Assassin and one for the Warrior class.. and let me just say.. Wow. The action looks really impressive and the game is being done on the Source engine! Which makes me very interested indeed, as I am a big fan of the Source Engine. So check out those videos on Steam and let me know what you think. I'm gonna have to read up a bit on Dark Messiah, who knows, it might fall through, but so far those videos have really got my attention.

Star Wars Marathon?

A friend of mine at work just gave me two burned DVD's with all of the Star Wars Episodes on them. I'm sort of tempted to watch them all straight through one of these weekends so that I can claim true "Marathon status". This is something, however, that I would really love to do as a huge group get-together. I don't know if any of you are interested in this, or even have the time for this kind of stuff, but I figured it might be sweet. So, who's interested in making an event of this sometime in the future? We could serve beer and brats, and maybe even run the movies on a projector. Also, Who's already done this marathon? I'm tempted to just watch them all on my own, but I'll hold out if any of you guys are seriously interested.

Since we are on the topic of Star Wars I figured I'd also ask my favorite question dealing with this matter. It concerns the generations of the future and the order in which they should watch these classic movies. Should they watch all of the Episodes in order (1 through 6) or break them up starting with "A New Hope" (4-6, then 1-3). I believe everyone I know, including myself, has watched Star Wars in the broken up style. We enjoyed the "Luke, I am your father" surprise, and the less considered OMG, That's YODA?!?! suprise.

So what are your beliefs on this matter, what would you suggest for the children of tomorrow?

I personally can see both sides of the coin, and I am torn between the two. On one hand I'd want to use the Star Wars newcomers as guinea pigs and have them watch from Ep1 to Ep6... but then again I don't want them to miss out on the cultural importance of the "Father line". Let me know what you guys think.