US fear and priorities are misplaced
How are the priorities of our federal government under heavy influence from special interests, individuals of great wealth, big industry, and powerful corporations?
I don't like viewing lives as numbers but there are some serious issues with our spending priorities in this country. Over a 9 year period, 2001 to 2010, the US has lost lives to much more pressing issues than the "terror wars".
Gaming Horizon – July 2011
I enjoy tracking developing games as well as playing games. Here is a current list of games I have been playing and some games in development of which I plan to buy or have peaked my curiosity.
Current Games
As of late Terraria has pretty much dominated my game time. Terraria has simple yet fun exploration / building aspects coupled with great 2d platform like gaming with a number of RPG elements. The updates have been great and keep the world changing. Terraria also has a number of exciting updating in the queue. I expect this title to become even better.
If I'm not playing Terraria I'll usually fire up Civ 5. Civ 5 is a fairly good game, but there are a few annoying mechanics. Luckily there are mods that address some of these issues. Most of the mods I have tried do tend to become unstable mid to late game.
The Horizon
Hawken
There has been a severe lack of mech style games for the PC over the last few years. Hawken looks and sounds amazing. The game could hit a sweet spot with gameplay as well. The devs have mentioned it plays somewhere between Halo and mech style sims. Hawken Site
Reckoning
This title is an introduction to a world which will become a MMO in the future. The game looks good and has some interesting combat mechanics. Reckoning Site
Firefall
I've been following Firefall since its announcement. Firefall is a squad based shooter with a number of rpg and mmo elements. Firefall Site
Torchlight 2
Torchlight 1 was a fun little game. I would have played the title a lot more if it would have had multiplayer. Torchlight 2 is adding multiplayer, an overland world, and a number of new features. Torchlight 2 Site
Diablo 3
I expect to pick up Diablo 3 when it is released. This is Blizzards next action rpg. Diablo 3 Site
Overstrike
Since Overstrike is quite new to the scene I'll just quote their part of their description of the game, "Overstrike blends developer Insomniac Games’ flair for exotic weaponry and immersive storytelling with a touch of humor in this 4 person co-op action game." Action, exotic weaponry, co-op, and humor sounds fine to me. There is a very strong Incredibles like overtone to the trailer. Overstrike Site
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
I've enjoyed every Elder Scrolls game I have played. I expect to pick up this game as well. Skyrim Site
Guild Wars 2
I wanted to like the first Guild Wars but just couldn't get into it. I believe Guild Wars 2 is doing a lot of things right, as the following video explains. Guild Wars 2 Site
Noctilucent Clouds?
May have just seen some Noctilucent clouds at about 3pm PST in Corvallis OR. The clouds were to the West Southwest at about 50 degrees above the horizon. Not sure if they were Noctilucent clouds as it was midday and the sun was pretty much right above us.
My dad saw them first and had us go look at them to make sure he wasn't seeing things. I was thinking to myself, it will just be clouds. I stepped out back and said out loud, "What the...". The clouds were pink, neon turquoise, and in places extremely bright. It was a very cool thing to watch. There are some pictures below which didn't turn out that great, but you can see some of the color.
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2003/18feb_nlc/
This article mentions day time Noctilucent Clouds: http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/1520-0469(1972)029%3C1205%3ANCIDCP%3E2.0.CO%3B2
Firewood and Garden
The church cleared out some hazardous trees, so I've spent some time chopping firewood. I also setup a raised bed (~$15 of Cedar) and started a line of sunflowers and bush beans along the edge of the shed.
Finished up some volunteer programming work for http://www.waterfootprint.org/. Once they finish up things server side, the products area should have a new menu which will function better than the current one.
Wait 100 years for version 2.0
There was an article on Techdirt a while back that really spoke to me about our misguided approach to copyright. The article reminds me of how human obsession with self, greed, and the fear of being forgotten get in the way of progress for the entire species. A few intellectual property owners here and there can hold up better, inspired, or more advanced versions of the same idea or even a similar idea. This hold up slows progress for everyone including those clutching onto their intellectual property. Nothing like waiting a 100 years for version 2.0.
Two key paragraphs really jumped out at me. The first was from Jeffrey A. Tucker of the Mises Institute:
"Sometimes 2.0 is just much better than 1.0, and here we see the big problem with intellectual-property protection. It freezes the first release as the only release for up to several generations. Improving and adapting are made against the law. This is not a problem if you use a story that is old enough. But why should society have to wait 100 years to get a better version of the original? Why should we have laws that artificially slow the pace of progress?"
The author of the article, Tim Cushing, then asks:
"That question is directed at you, copyright maximalists. Why should we have to wait more than a lifetime to improve or adapt an idea? It can't just be the money, because most ideas don't generate a lifetime of income. Is it the fear that someone might improve on your idea? Is that the main concern? That the world will move on, forgetting the originator and embracing the "remixer"? Or is it simply a short-sighted and mercenary view that has self-perpetuated into the endless copyright extensions of today?"
You can read the rest of the article at the following link. The comments are also interesting.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110519/17104214346/waiting-100-years-version-20.shtml
Capes: Kiwanda, Lookout, Meares
This week I visited Cape Kiwanda, Cape Lookout, and Cape Meares for a class project. The class is called Park Geology and Preservation. The goal of my visit was to learn about the state parks and observe some of the geological features.
The south beach of Cape Lookout was completely deserted in the middle of the week. I think most people hike the trail along the cape. I was after a peak at some columnar jointing on the south side of the cape which cannot be seen from the cape trail. The very south end of Cape Meares hosts some pillow basalt features. Finally, Cape Kiwanda features uplift and tilting of sandstone as well as the intrusive igneous haystack rock off shore.
Terraria
I must be a sucker for 8/16 bit graphic games. Terraria is a game about exploring, building, crafting, and action combat. You harvest raw resources and refine them into materials for building a home and gear.
At night there is a zombie horde that shows up, so having a place to take shelter is almost necessary. As you expand your home NPCs will move into the extra rooms you build. The first NPC to move in is the guide. A general merchant, nurse, and demolition merchant have all moved into what is becoming more of a fort than a home.
There are a number of random events that can take place which mixes up the pace of the surface level game. Although, most of the game happens underground. Under the surface you will find many resources, enemies, a dungeon, and a few different types of ecosystems.
A couple of nice features are the randomly generated world and persistent character. If you don't like a given world you can generate a new one and take your character into the newly generated world. You can also adventure in a world with up 3 of your friends.
I'm really enjoying Terraria. Amazingly the game was built in about 5 months and goes for $10 on Steam.
My house in Terraria
[Update]
The developers have announced they have currently sold over 200,000 copies.
Average cost of a new house up 975% from 1971.
Your paycheck keeping up?
Now and then I check articles over at the Burning Platform. Regardless of what anyone may believe about monetary systems, the current US monetary system is hurting the majority of its citizens. Here are some numbers and a clip from the article The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Part Three.
| Items | 1971 |
2010/11 |
% Increase |
| Average Cost of new house | $28,000 | $273,000 | 975% |
| Median HH Income | $10,300 | $47,000 | 456% |
| Average Monthly Rent | $150 | $750 | 500% |
| Cost of a gallon of Gas | $0.40 | $3.80 | 950% |
| Average New Car Price | $3,430 | $29,200 | 851% |
| United States postage Stamp | $0.08 | $0.44 | 550% |
| Movie Ticket | $1.50 | $7.89 | 526% |
"Even with the proliferation of two worker households since 1971, household income has not come close to keeping up with the costs of daily living. The average American’s standard of living has declined dramatically over the last forty years and they don’t even know it. Americans have become the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of their own slavery through inflation and debt. It is not a coincidence that consumer debt, which was virtually non-existent prior to the 1960s, began to take off in the 1970s and went nearly parabolic from the early 1990s until the 2008 financial collapse."
Check out the entire article if you are interested.
Aquaponics Test System
I became very interested in aquapoincs a while back. After spending a number of months researching I decided to build a system.
Overview
The blue 55 gallon drum is home to the fish. The fish create waste. Every hour water is pumped from the 18 gallon red sump tank into the fish tank. When the water level reaches a high enough level a siphon pulls water from the fish tank to the 30 gallon black grow bed. Once the grow bed is filled to the correct level a siphon pulls water from the grow bed into the sump tank.
Status
The system functions. The water levels all work and siphon off at the correct level. I recently added some ammonia to jump start bactiera growth in the grow bed. Shortly after I added some broccoli and spinach. In a couple days I will also have my fish. I will be using Bluegill for their wide range of temperature tolerance and because they are native to the northwest. However, Bluegill do not grow very fast so they will not be a good fish for turn around sale or eating.
I had trouble finding the grow bed media I wanted. So the media is currently river rock and red lava rock. Not sure how well it will work.
The full system
30 gallon grow bed
Sipons
Sump Tank
Fish tank siphon adjustment
Grow bed siphon and adjustment
Automatic fish feeder
Aerator
Top of fish tank
Alligator thermometer
Electrical post cover
Electrical post and pump timer
