Jason O

Dunderhead

2006-04-25T12:15:07Z

I meant to mention this yesterday while I was busy justifying why I had not yet completed my research into RSS feeds into LJ.

Some of you may recall in the vaguest of fashions that I was looking for a new forum to go to. There were some good suggestions but I never quit meshed into any of them.

Anyway, on a lark I did a search on Google, I don't remember the exact string ("Old fart gamers"?) and found www.gamerswithjobs.com. I've been hanging out over there ever since.

Not forgotten

2006-04-25T02:51:08Z

T-Duck suggested getting my blog to update over here via an RSS feed. I have not yet figured out how to get LJ to do that. I certainly can get LJ to feed over to the blog, but that's the wrong direction. As usual, I'm finding LJ's documentation to be scattered and disorganized.

I used to, somewhere, have a client that posted to multiple blogs. Did I just toss the darn thing? That is something I am considering. There is also a way, I think, to feed comments from LJ over to Unfettered Blather, but again I don't know if the reverse is true. I wouldn't mind establishing some sort of synergy.

I do have one major reservation, and it occurs due to reading my friends list again. Let's just be real honest here. LJ is largely a personal experience. Me? Well, I've not grown to fond of either complaining about life nor trumpeting how good it is. I might have an off-handed comment about how things are going, but I find it terribly droll just to talk about me. In fact, I've pretty well dropped it. Unfettered Blather is largely impersonal, except for presenting the world from my point of view. It's me looking outward, not me looking in. LJ is largely the reverse of that. That is an observation, not a criticism.

Anyway, the REAL lack of progress is simply being busy with this or that. I'm sure everyone, you know, gets what I mean. Sure I'm holed up in a hotel after work and being an old married guy I don't venture out much. Still, it's amazing how little free time I have. Besides, Sunday evenings and Friday mornings are completely consumed by trips to the airport and flights back and forth from work to home. I'm losing a good 10 to 12 hours a week just to travel.

What I'm doing, where I've been, where I'm going....

2006-04-14T05:08:47Z

I ran into loganpvp at the Stonebriar Mall in Frisco on Weds. I was in town on vacation and was meeting an old friend that had just started a new job.

I made a clean break some months ago from LJ. I won't go into petty details behind my decision. It was quite liberating. For those interested, the new blog is...

Unfettered Blather

I am still working at a consulting company. My contract in Plano expired and I am now working in Virginia on a long-term contract. I fly twice a week and am home on weekends. It has been hell, but my performance appraisals in light of the tough assignment have been glowing. Not that the work is hard, but the client can be difficult to work with. Despite this, I think they're good people, just disorganized.

I was promoted to Senior Consultant at the end of last year. I believe I had mentioned making Technical Designer earlier last year. I am now attempting to go for Senior Consultant/Architectural Specialist for the end of 2006. I may not make it, but it gives me a goal.

My older son is in an advanced learning class in school. His lowest grade so far has been 92%, but this is only 1st grade so we'll see. The fact that he enjoys school whereas I hated it is a good sign. He takes after his mother, who was a much better student than I was. My younger son is in pre-school and doing well but is a bit of a hellion.

I can't say that I will post here like...ever. I have the other blog for that. After running into Logan though, I decided that I should at least be checking my friends list.

However, I am only getting older and grumpier. Now would be a good time to remove me from your friends list.

Discussions of geekdom

2005-05-30T23:18:36Z

Recent diatribe while talking to a friend....

You know how they talk about survival kits? A vampire survival kit would have a stake, garlic, and possibly a crucifix. A werewolf survival kit would have a gun with silver bullets. A zombie survival kit would have a shotgun and a pamphlet explaining how to shoot them in the head.

I'm going to make a geek survival kit. It will contain a clean XXXL T-Shirt, a bar of soap, some shampoo, and a belt. That way the next time I run into some guy digging through the Hot Wheels at the local Target wearing his nasty tie-dye T-Shirt with his long greasy hair tied back with whatever rubber band he found on the counter that morning showing off his buttcrack, I will be prepared!

Thinking about Star Wars V

2005-05-26T21:22:27Z

Yeah, it's been a long time in coming.

So by this point I have seen the movie twice. Once at a light night showing last week, and again the following Friday with my 6 year old son. I know, I know. I took a 6 year old to a PG-13 movie. You may boil me in oil later. I did at least preview the movie first.

I think a quote I read on a forum I frequent summed up the movie pretty well. "If you don't like this movie then you just don't like Star Wars."

I think that is fair, because most of the complaints I hear about Episode III are pretty well applicable to every movie in the series. I think there are fans out there that are just determined to hate everything Lucas does and any endeavor he dares set upon after 1983 is "raping their childhood". Note, I hate that expression with a passion.

Revenge of the Sith was good, it was not great. That's ok because I wouldn't call any of the movies great after the original Star Wars anyway. Honestly, the original was only great because nothing like it had ever been done. It wasn't exactly science fiction, it sure as hell wasn't fantasy, it had revolutionary special effects. In short, there has never been anything like it before and you can't just recreate that magic by producing sequels.

The movie certainly had its weak points, as expected, but it delivered where it needed to. The final scene with Vader was silly. I get that the Emperor had to drive out the last of Vader's humanity, and I understand the purpose of the scene. It was the execution that was flawed. Still, it had the one scene that, in my mind, was essential to making it the transition to the original film. Obi-Wan with the infant Luke in hand, walking in the desert to give the child to the Lars family.

It also had the 2nd scariest lightsaber fight since Luke confronted Vader in Empire Strikes Back. When Windu faced down Darth Sidious, I honestly did not know who would win. I knew what the final outcome was going to be, that isn't hard to figure out considering what we already know. Still, when Sidious struck down the other three Jedi, people we saw who had survived the previous film, I seriously wondered if Mace wasn't in over his head.

I'm sure some people will go to this movie and be disappointed. Opinions do vary. I do think the utter piece of crap that some people claim it is are too bitter and too biased to have arrived at that fairly. Sorry, I've seen some pretty bad movies in my day. If you consider this film to be utter crap, you've obviously been watching nothing but critically accalimed award winning movies your entire life. Call it bad? Fair enough. Cinematic sewage? I think some people just can't let go of the fact that they don't get to define what Star Wars is.

Zeus Comix

2005-05-24T19:55:29Z

Oddly enough, the comic book shop where Scott Kurtz does most of his appearances? Yeah, it's like 5 minutes from my office if you include the elevator ride down. I mean 5 minutes walking distance. It actually shares a parking lot with the office.

Feels kind of weird. I popped in there the other day just because. It's funny when I think how much effort I've gone through in the past to take trips down there (usually to meet a buddy of mine) and now I can just pop in over a break or whenever.

I wish the store hadn't gone down to half its size. It used to take so much more time and effort to visit.

General B.S.

2005-05-24T15:31:08Z

I rolled off my project on May 16. I took last week off to get things done around the house. I've been absent so much because I have been in the midst of chaos since the beginning of May.

Which is kind of funny because I did so little in my last week on the job. It wasn't for lack of trying, but there was no clear transition plan at all.

So now that I don't have a contract I am coming into the office 3 days a week, Tuesday through Thursday. Not sure of my hours, probably between 10am and 3:30pm. Yes, indeed, it's tough being me.

I was very discouraged because during my 2nd to last week on the contract there were almost no positions posted in the staffing reports that I qualified for. However, I have been submitted to quite a few and it looks like it is just a matter of time. Especially now that I am more aware of what I am expected to do and what I can do to make the process quicker.

If worse comes to worst and I don't get an assignment soon, I may end up working on sales proposals. It's not exactly ideal work, but there is some business we are trying to sell and I happen to be an expert in the technology set the customer is looking for. If nothing else, it may be good experience to put on a resume. Until then, I am just coasting.

But hey, I've taken my son to school everyday for the past week and a half. Plus I took him this morning to his last day of kindergarten. Being on the bench has not been all bad.

George Romero apparently did not retire

2005-05-08T02:32:33Z

http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/landofthedead/large.html

Dennis Hopper in a Zombie movie? My real question is, why didn't this happen sooner?

Diet Coke with Splenda?

2005-05-05T17:50:59Z

They are selling 20 oz. bottles of this stuff at the Prestonwood Commons area in Plano. It's really not bad. I still prefer the Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper, but it would be better with Splenda to.

I'd love to see more products currently using Nutra-sweet or Sorbitol replaced with Splenda. It would make my life a whole lot easier.

Proud of my son

2005-05-05T13:23:19Z

Any kindergartner at my son's school who successfully completes 25 AR (advanced reading) tests is going to have lunch with the school principal and some firefighters on the roof of the school.

Most of the kids who were able to do so were in advanced schooling prior to entering kindergarten. They pretty much started off the year able to read. Of course we're talking about all of two kids in his class, so maybe I should say "both" instead of "all". Anyway, my older son, Reid, was just starting to read at the beginning of the year and started later on the AR tests than the other two kids who had been taking them. Although he tried hard to make up the difference, by last week he had completed just 18 tests.

Yesterday we received an e-mail from his teacher in the middle of the day (how things change!) saying that Reid had been in the library all day. Apparently she allowed him to go to the library on his own and read all day and take as many tests as he wanted. He read ten books and passed all ten AR tests. The tenacity and perseverance he showed when he saw something wanted was incredible.

He had a soccer party that night where he received a trophy for the season. We took him out for pizza afterwards. He said it was one of the best days of his life.

Clump of Souls (ie: Katamari Damacy)

2005-05-04T12:56:29Z

I know I'm late to the party, but I picked up Katamari Damacy just a few days ago. I don't like to advocate drug use, but if the only way to get an original and engaging game out of a software developer is to have them use some pretty strong controlled substances, then we need to start spiking the coffee over at Electronic Arts.

I can't really find any reason why the game is good. It's hard to describe. It just is. It's not a good game to sit down and analyze what makes it a good game at all. Maybe it's just put together well and it's original. It certainly works on its own level.

Also, it's probably good that it's a Playstation 2 title and not an X-Box release. If it had been developed for X-Box they probably would not have gone for the simpler graphics that the game possesses and insisted on detailing everything to the extreme while shrinking the game world and the number of objects on screen. I'm often amazed that instead of creating worlds on the X-Box developers seem to be more intent on trying to animate eyebrows or something. They make worlds SMALLER but more detailed. Personally, I'd rather have the extra roaming space. (Pay attention Fable developers!)

The biggest problem with the game is that its difficult to recommend. How could I tell anyone if they'll like it? Then again, there isn't much to not like and the distinct lack of used copies should be a pretty big giveaway to its appeal. Everyone played it at my house night. My wife, my 6 year old, and my 3 year old. Everyone liked it. The dog didn't play because she was in trouble at the time. Nonetheless, it has a broad appeal.

Why rising gas costs hurt

2005-05-04T12:54:24Z

I've had some people point out to me that although they are paying a lot more for gas, it's not as painful as they thought it could be. Considering most of these people are at my income level though, or better, it occurred to me that they may not be the best economic indicators of what kind of strain the gas prices can be. Although I am "middle class", the fact is that the majority of Americans, while more wealthy than most of the world, are not on middle class incomes. This is shocking to my neighbors in suburbia, but it's true. Below I have a high contrived example of what the rising gas prices is doing to American families. This is probably minimal impact, the situation is probably even worse than what I am about to illustrate.

Anyway, here come the heavily contrived examples.

Let's take a salary range that I think is probably typical for my general area. A person making $52,000 a year and has a gas bill of around $100 a month. Probably a bit low on the gas bill, but doable since that was actually higher than mine was before the increase and I tend to own very fuel efficient cars. Now, more than likely this person's income has NOT increased as the price of gas has (nor will any of the following examples). In my area, the price of gas has hovered around being 78% more than it was before. This is a median average.

Now, in this example, someone earning $52,000 a year and spending $100 a month on gas is actually spending 2.3% of their income on fueling their automobiles. With the 78% increase in gas prices, they now spend about 4.1% of their income on fuel. The net loss to gas prices is an additional 1.8%. Painful, but really not all that significant if the family does not have lots of outstanding debt or is generally good with finances anyway. Right?

Moving on. Let's take someone I think is fairly typical. I'm going to lowball a little here and say this person earns about $10 an hour which gives then an annual income of $20,800. Due to their lower salary, they likely live a little closer to work and may not drive around as much, so we'll be kind and lower their gas bill to $75 a month. Even so, they're spending 4.3% of their income on fuel, despite the lower gas bill. Increase that by 78%, and their new bill is (rounded to the nearest dollar) $134 a month. Now they are expending 7.7% of their income to put gas in their car(s). The net loss for them is an additional 3.4% of their income. In other words, their net loss is more than what the above example was spending (percentage-wise) on gas before the increase. This is from someone who has less than half the income.

Lastly, let's say we have someone working full-time for slave wages. Well, first of all they need to find a new job. However, let's just ignore that facet for now and say this person earns $5.75 an hour for an annual income of $11,960. I've seen little difference in gas bills from the time I worked for minimum wage to the time I worked "semi-professional" for positions out of college. So let's go ahead and saddle this person with a monthly gas bill of $75. Possibly a bad example since in the above two examples I am assuming each one is a household with two cars. Still, the point is assessing the damage and this is all contrived. Moving on....

So, someone working for $5.75 an hour and spending $75 a month on gas was using 7.5% of their income at the gas station. After the increase they are now spending 13.4% of their income for gas! Their difference is a loss of a whooping 5.9% of their overall income just on gas!

Now, these examples are probably flawed in many, many ways. That's ok because this was all just for illustration. The point is that the more money you earn, the less the price of gas really effects you. This also explains why you still see massive Hummer 2's running around Plano, TX. People in that area can afford the vehicle and they can afford the increased gas price. The bad news is that it's vehicles like the Hummer 2 that continues the demand for gas, which keeps upward pressure on prices. Since a lot of people cannot simply dump their SUV's for more fuel efficient cars, the demand for oil has decreased little in face of higher prices at the pump. Unfortunately, the economic strain on lower income families is very real.

So maybe it only hurts me a little, but it hurts people on lower incomes a lot.

And no, I don't earn $52,800 a year. Though for reference people in my positions typically earn around $50-70K a year depending on expertise, experience, and geographic location. I know plenty of executive and director types and their incomes tend to hit in the $90K and up range. I doubt many of them will really start to hurt until gas prices increase to about 150% of what they used to be. At that point, even those of us on middle-class incomes will start feeling the hurt. I shudder to think what will happen to those earning even less.

Is it any wonder there is a new push for alternative fuels? We are quite literally going to bankrupt an entire class of Americans if the price of gas continues to rise.

Impression of KOTOR II

2005-04-29T15:52:35Z

EDIT - KOTOR II stands for "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords". Just an FYI.

And to think, I'm almost done with the game -

Gameplay summary -
Player talks to NPC and is told to go talk to NPC in another area. Player walks clear across the map to the other area.

Loading...loading...loading...loading...

Player gets into the next area, NPC with information says he needs an item that is back where the Player just left. The item only shows up AFTER this conversation. Player goes back to previous area.

Loading...loading...loading...loading...

Player looks high and lo for the item. Finds it. Goes BACK to the other area.

Loading...loading...loading...loading...

Player arrives and talks to the NPC. NPC looks at item and does some BS pseudo-scientific crap to it. Player is losing patience fast. NPC has great revelation, but the player needs to go back to the other area to further the plot. FINE!

Loading...loading...loading...loading...

Player arrives back at the previous area he just left. Talks to some scumbag doctor who tells him the next step. Of course it involves going to a different map.

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Loading...loading...loading...loading...

Pragmatic is not the same as evil

2005-04-27T19:28:07Z

I follow a conservative web-site, mostly for news. It is also interesting to read some of the commentary, but it can be a bit sapping to the will at times. I put up with it because their liberal counterparts seem to be more interested in emotional outbursts than logical discussion.

Keeping mind what I just wrote, I read a comment on said website that decried pragmatism being used in society. Their justification when called on it (not by me, I won't contribute to discussions there anymore) was that pragmatics won't allow moral absolutes and leads to relativism.

Er...excuse me?

Not too very long ago I was invited to be a member of the senior leadership in my church. I accepted with some trepidation because I wonder if I am spiritually grounded enough for the position. I was labelled in one of our meetings as being pragmatic. I think this is probably true, I like to look at the facts and the reasons behind different situations. I don't make up my mind based on how I feel, my beliefs, or what other people tell me. I like to see the bigger picture and push past some of the rhetoric to find my own conclusions. Sometimes this is a cold approach, I admit, but I find it better than living my life based on what a popular movement tells me to think. Quietly I envy those that have a sort of blind faith, but that is not me.

Yet I have strong positions on many things. I did not arrive at my opinions or beliefs lightly. I did not wake up one day and decide "Ya'know, Harry down the street is always going to church, maybe I'll become a Christian today". It certainly wasn't because of my parent's beliefs either! They hardly went to church and stopped altogether when I was quite young.

It's funny because the stereotype of Conservatives is the group of cold unfeeling logic. The stereotypes of the Liberals is the group of unrestrained emotion. Yet you look at the Terry Schiavo case and see the two completely reverse positions. Pragmatism defines conservatives in many ways, yet they are just as ungrounded and weakly opinionated as those they rail against. It's not that there weren't good reasons to support the continued care for Terry Schiavo, my point is that many people didn't look at the logic but just their feelings. The facts were often inconvenient. I have to wonder, if the facts don't support your position, or you can't explain why you hold a position because of those facts however contrary they might be (certainly possible!) then how much have you really thought about it?

In the end, this is not a rant against conservatives or liberals, but merely a comparison in how the two are more alike in their actions then they may think. It's also my endorsement for thinking beyond some touchy feely philosophy and really seeing what is going on around us. Too many people believe what they believe because their church, their friends, their political party, or their parents told them so.

How is this open-minded? How is this free? To me it seems like just another form of slavery.

Horse killed on movie set. National press actually cares.

2005-04-27T19:27:19Z

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=598&e=2&u=/nm/20050427/film_nm/film_horse_dc

So, a horse gets killed while filming a movie and it makes national news. Not only that, but the American Humane Association is talking about "stricter supervision".

The ironic statement is this -

The AHA said that with productions going overseas, animal accidents on studio films might increase.

Do you know why they shot the Matrix in Australia? Lower production costs and less liability. There is so much regulation while shooting in America that it is simpler and cheaper to actually fly overseas and shoot somewhere else. A lot of these movies that talk about shooting "on location" aren't really bragging anymore. It's costly to shoot a movie in the US. Why simulate the jungles of South America when it is cheaper, if not necessarily safer, to just go to the jungles of South America?

Not that I'm advocating that animals should be killed for our entertainment, but this happens routinely to stuntmen as well. Often we don't even hear about it, which is why an article about a horse being killed from a national source strikes me as more than a little odd. As long as people buy tickets to movies that feature dangerous stunts, people and animals will continue to die for the purpose of our entertainment. While I hardly think carelessness is good for anyone, I think there is a point where you can't get real safety without simply just replacing everyone digitally.

Although I am sure that day is coming....

Lego Star Wars: The Video Game

2005-04-20T16:22:15Z

I've been pretty openly mocking the new Lego Star Wars game. Not so much the concept, but just the utter lack of information surrounding it. Neither the box nor the advertising blitz around the game really convey what the gameplay is like. While it looks very cute and all, why would I want to spend $40 on it?

I was curious enough about the game that I read some reviews, which ranged from very good to mediocre. Everyone seemed to like the game. So much so that I couldn't figure out why some of them scored it in the low 70 percentile. However, some of the features convinced me that it would be great for my boys. I decided to purchase it and I would proceed to do what I do with a lot of their games. (ie: Play it in advance and unlock some extras for them to save the frustration).

First of all, the game plays well enough that my usual advance play was totally unnecessary. It's not a complicated game at all. Now, consider the next statement in the context of being written by a 31 year old professional talking about legos, the game is fun! I mean it is really quite enjoyable! I've usually plowed through other kid games for just to unlock the stuff they want since they cannot just sit for hours and play videogames. I actually like playing this game and want to play it some more! It completely supplanted my usual gameplay of the Punisher and Knights of the Old Republic II!

It's weird, it's offbeat, and its legos! The reviews at Gamespy and Gamespot actually provide an excellent overview of the game and its features, something I usually can't say with great confidence.

Not sure it was worth the $40 I paid for it, but I think my kids' enjoyment will end up justifying the cost.

Thinking about Star Wars IV

2005-04-20T16:21:22Z

I generally avoid spoilers, but I think in this case it is unnecessary. Are we really confused as to what is going to happen in the next movie?

What is a little humorous is listening to the fanboys speculate. What is there to speculate? Let's see, EVERY Jedi not named Kenobi or Yoda is going to die. Anakin is going to turn to the dark side and *gasp* become Darth Vader! Padme is going to give birth to twins named Luke and Leia, which will be spirited away by Obi-Wan and Bail Organa respectively.

More than likely Padme is going to die. Jar Jar Binks will probably live, unless Lucas actually gives a crap about the fans still and then Binks will die. We didn't know that Yoda and the Emperor were going to have a showdown, but it's not difficult to figure out who the winner of that battle will be.

The only reason to go see this movie, and my reason for seeing it, is so we can see how these events actually unfold. It's the special effects and the story. The end results are already known in advance.

Speculation at this point is moot. Unless you're one of the few people who never saw the original trilogy.

Happy Birthday Dark Ravenette

2005-04-19T16:03:52Z

Hope it's a good one!

Thinking about Star Wars III

2005-04-19T15:53:50Z

In the original Star Wars trilogy, Lucas talks a lot about wanting a "used universe". This really shows in his designs. The Millienium Falcon is pretty much a giant rust bucket with exposed parts and a dingy appearance. The rebel fighters often look very worn-out and used. Even the Imperial craft tend to be more towards the utilitarian and spartan, with very little superflous design in them.

Now, looking at Episode I, everything is bright and shiny. Some of this, I suspect, is limitations and inexperience with the new type of special effects that they are using. However, I think it also fits well into the overall theme. I think the best examples, which can be seen in contrast between Episode I and II, are the Naboo Starfighters. In Episode I they are perfect, almost flawless. There is very little wear on them, each one is in pristine condition. However, in the brief time they are seen on-screen in Episode II we can see some grime and build-up on some of their surfaces. They are still fairly "clean" overall, but have obviously seen some use.

From what little I've seen of Episode III, this theme appears to continue, with machinery looking less pristine and more functional. A lot of the equipment has changed from aesthetic to functional. We're also seeing a continued evolution towards the Imperial designs, with the new Jedi Starfighters looking like fancy TIE Fighters. Actually, remove the forward mandibles, the missile bays, and the elongated cannons and it is basically a TIE Fighter. The general shape does actually resemble Darth Vader's TIE Fighter from Episode IV, which is a nice nod by Lucas to tie everything back to Anakin.

It is very interesting to actually see the "used universe" concept evolving into what it is in the original trilogy. My only complaint is that compressed timeline, even though it takes place over decades, from a galaxy of pleasing aesthetics into one of cold machinery.

Nice to have a day off

2005-04-15T19:40:58Z

My wife and older son went on a school trip to the zoo. I've spent the entire day with my younger son.

Having a blast.

Thinking about Star Wars II

2005-04-15T19:27:36Z

One of the biggest complaints I've had about the prequel trilogy is the lack of a defined villian. There was always something menacing about Darth Vader, even when he was doing nothing more than just standing around. He exemplified danger and death, to displease him could mean the end of your life. As the original trilogy continued, he would only become more ominous. He could block blaster bolts with his hand and he originally fought Luke with only a one-handed grip on his lightsaber. Vader was not to be trifled with. He was a classic screen villian.

There really has not been a villian like him in the prequels. Darth Maul, while menacing, just didn't possess the same air of danger. Count Dooku was more regal than scary. He's dangerous, but doesn't look it, which may be dangerous in of itself but doesn't scream "screen presence" at all. The one villian that has real potential is General Grievous. Unfortunately, his time may be too brief to have a lasting impact. What will he have outside of the Clone Wars and one movie? He may become big in fandom, but EVERYONE knows who Darth Vader is.

Thinking about Star Wars

2005-04-13T04:50:18Z

Since the last movie is about to be released and I have been rewatching the original trilogy on DVD, I'm going to start jotting down random thoughts until the movie is finally out. Maybe even beyond that. I've always been fascinated by the Star Wars mythos.

Tonight's entry is about our favorite two droids, C3P0 and R2D2. A lot of fans were upset that Anakin was Threepio's creator. Why doesn't Vader remember him? Why doesn't Threepio remember Vader? Furthermore, why doesn't Obi-Wan and R2D2 recognize each other? In A New Hope, Obi-Wan says "I don't recall ever owning a droid". This is actually true.

Interestingly enough, Lucas hasn't been totally haphazard here. In the original trilogy, Threepio and Vader have nearly zero interaction. About the only time they are on screen together is when Threepio is on pieces riding on Chewbacca's back! He's also never seen Threepio in his golden form, though it's a possibility that occurs in Episode III.

Same with Obi-Wan, his interaction with R2D2 is limited at best in Episodes I and II, and he seems to show some disdain for droids as well. He may not remember R2D2 simply because he never paid much attention to him. By the time he runs into Luke it has been decades since he last saw R2. Even then, it's possible that he does recognize him, but simply doesn't say anything. Pure chance for Lucas, since the original Star Wars was never intended to be a series. Even so, he seems to have crafted R2's origins around the interaction between R2 and Obi-Wan in A New Hope.

So what's up with Threepio and R2? Why don't they remember? Simple, a droid memory wipe is coming up for both of them in Episode III. Although it is often hinted that neither of them have received one in a long time, it's possible that they still could have received one in the upcoming movie, and will almost have to in order to maintain continuity.

So overall, the Droid aspect of the mythology appears to be intact.

Interesting

2005-04-07T03:54:43Z

It's interesting to get into a debate that is largely one-sided and filled with petty, snide, and superficial remarks and submit something that will make people think.

You quickly see that some people simply cannot do anything other than make their snide little remarks, and others when challenged are actually quite thoughtful.

This is why I avoid "echo chambers" like Democratic Underground and, lately, PoliPundit. If no one ever has to think, no one ever tries.

Trouble at the Daily Grind

2005-04-06T17:25:30Z

Not sure who all is following the Daily Grind, but there is troube afoot.

Quick background, the purpose of the Daily Grind is a contest between webcomic artists to see who can update the longest. Everyone puts in $20 and must update Monday through Friday. NO EXCUSES. Anyone who doesn't update their comic is out. That's the end of it. The pot is up over $1000, which is a good chunk of change. Especially for many of these "artists" who are still in college and probably living off of Ramen.

Early on I was dubious because Chris Crosby had entered the contest. Crosby has never missed an update, however he also draws a pretty bad comic. I've never cared for Superiosity. I never thought it was good from any perspective. Not from writing, comedy, or art. Crosby can crank out his crap 7 days a week and it is his full-time job. Theoretically he is co-owner of Keenspot, but he seems to have no real hand in how it is run so I suspect that he has no issues just sitting on the toilet and crapping out one masterpiece after another. Still, they let him in. Alright, well it will be an interesting contest for 2nd place I suppose.

Now they have had two artists break a rule and the judges let them slide. Obstensibly the artists "didn't understand the rule". Did they ask for clarification first? Nope, of course not. Instead they want an exception made for them because they didn't understand and weren't smart enough (or forthright enough really) to get clarification. In other words, they cheated and the judges let them get away with it. Again, let me point out that $1000 is at stake, which is more money than most of the participants have ever made at one time. Greg Dean who draws Real Life wasn't sure about a rule and he got clarification first!

The contest is now tarnished. I think it's tarnished by having people like Crosby in it. Scott Kurtz I can understand, because everyone is waiting for Kurtz to inevitably miss an update. He certainly updates irregularly enough that he's a safe bet. Other people like Howard Tayler of Schlock Mercenary refused to join because he has NEVER missed an update and didn't see the point of entering the contest.

I'm sure the people running the contest are fed up by the controversy at this point. They didn't want to make people unhappy by enforcing a rule, but I think they made more people unhappy by not enforcing it. I don't see any point in extending the contest by this point, and certainly not for some webcartoonists who are already having problems just a month into the contest.

The Ridiculousness of High Gas Prices

2005-04-05T20:18:01Z

There is something startlingly surreal about someone who drives an SUV complaining about high gas prices.

One of the reasons gas is so high is due to demand. Yes, there are other factors, but a lot of it is because despite the increasing cost of oil, demand has not withered. If anything it is growing on a global scale.

I don't have anything against SUV's. There are a lot of myths pervading against them, one of which is the whole "bad for the environment" thing, which isn't true. It's mostly older vehicles that are still on the road doing most of the damage to the air. There is not a whole lot of difference between a Ford Expedition and my Ford Escort in terms of air pollution. Yes, the Expedition is quantitively worse, but not by a great means.

That said, SUV's are undeniably huge consumers of gas, as are Minivans. Minivans have fallen out of popularity and were never as trendy as SUV's, but that doesn't change that SUV's are freakin' everywhere. High gas consumption helds keep prices up. So that monster SUV that said complainer is driving is helping keep their gas costs high.

I don't own a fuel inefficient vehicle and never will. My wife and I are considering buying an SUV in the future, but it will get at least 20mpg (highway) or I'm not touching it. I consider that to be bad even, but it is my lower limit. My current vehicles get 35mpg and 28mpg. I'm not shelling out thousands of dollars for a vehicle just so I can spend hundreds of dollars a month to drive it. At least the vehicle will be worth something, but the gas is a wash, so why spend any more than I have to?

If more people would refuse to purchase vehicles that get ridiculously low mileage (have you seen the Hummer 2????) then gas prices might drop. Until then, with our current usage, it is not only going to stay high but will likely climb.

The bright side is that I have seen several stories lately concerning at least three different alternative energy/fuel sources being actively pursued. Fuel cell initiatives are likely to be passed in California, bio-diesel is being pursued (successfully) right here in Texas, and hybrid cars are gaining in popularity which will hopefully drive the price down somewhat as production on them increases. Right now the trade-off in price makes hybrids a poor exchange for savings in gas. Though I guess they are more "environmentally friendly".