Worst Week Evar, Mb?

OK, so last week was quite possibly the worst week ever for me. :(

I had four tests: two in American Government and Politics, one in Accounting (the worst class ever), and a listening test in Music Appreciation. On top of that, I had a group presentation in my Government class which meant I had to do a shitton of research to fill in the gaps in my part of the presentation, I had to compile my sources, format them in MLA format, and send them to the person in charge of the Bibliography, and I had to make our group’s PowerPoint.

Overall, it was just a really stressful time over the past week or so for me, and I’m so freaking happy that I finally have some time where I can just sit back and chill. :)

Ever So Close

So, in a mere six hours, I will be leaving for Tulsa, Oklahoma to see Brand New in concert. I’m pretty freaking excited. We’ve been counting down the days since we ordered our tickets about two months ago, and we’re ready to go see it. (That count definitely included a “fortnight”, as well.)

The only bad thing about it is that I have another class in the morning at 9:25. :(

In other news, Orbis Sanctum made a new video, this time starring Will Smith… er, his Halo look-alike. That’s right, we made a short Machinima featuring the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air intro. Check it:


If you want to download it, then right click and save as

Super Mario Tesla

This is just too cool. Someone setup two Tesla coils to play the theme from Super Mario Brothers.

From the description on the YouTube page:

Twin Solid State Musical Tesla coils playing Mario Bros theme song at the 2007 Lightning on the Lawn Teslathon sponsored by DC Cox (Resonance Research Corp) in Baraboo WI.
The music that you hear is coming from the sparks that these two identical high power solid state Tesla coils are generating. There are no speakers involved. The Tesla coils stand 7 feet tall and are each capable of putting out over 12 foot of spark. They are spaced about 18 feet apart. The coils are controlled over a fiber optic link by a single laptop computer. Each coil is assigned to a midi channel which it responds to by playing notes that are programed into the computer software. These coils were constructed by Steve Ward and Jeff Larson. Video was captured by Terry Blake. What is not obvious is how loud the coils are. They are well over 110dB.

Regarding Halo 3 and Other Items of Business

OK, so, this place has been severely neglected lately (four entries in roughly two months? For shame!), so I’m going to try and make a resolution to make an entry at least once every three or four days (maybe more, depending on what I find interesting on the ‘tubes). So yeah… that’s the “Other Item of Business.” Now the Halo 3:

As I’m sure you know, roughly two months ago, Halo 3 has been released, and I, being a huge Halo buff (so to speak), I’ve been playing it quite a lot. Beat campaign on Legendary (the highest difficulty, for those of you unaware) on one of my Xbox Live accounts (yes, I have two… if you want to play with me, then you can send a friend request to my “public” gamertag of II galador II [those are capital i’s]), and made “Spartan Officer” on both (reached the rank of Lieutenant). So, as you can tell, I’ve done quite a bit with it.

However, compare me to this guy, and that’s nothing. This guy is already up to General, Grade Four. Now, for those of you who don’t know the Bungie Rating System (that’s mine, so you can see the experience required to level up, as I’m not too terribly high ranked), I will provide a short explanation:

  1. For every game you play and win, you get One Experience Point
  2. If you leave a game, or are otherwise disconnected from the session, then you lose one experience point
  3. When you reach a certain amount of experience, you “rank up” in a system much like that of the US Army (there is some artistic liscense as to what ranks are used and in what order)
  4. Once you reach the level of “Spartan Officer”, in addition to having a requirement for experience, you also have to have reached a certain level in one of the Ranked Playlists (For example, to advance to lieutenant, you have to have a rank of 10 in one of your playlists)

That’s basically how it works. Now, to reach the level of General, Grade Four, you have to have 5000 and a rank of 50 in one of your playlists. Yes, that means you have to win at least 5000 games in order to gain this level of rank. Now, before you go on to say, “Holy crap, that guy must be incredibly good,” then first realize this second fact: the guy cheated to get that high.

What happened here was that this person used a technique called “boosting” to get to such a high rank. Basically, what happens in boosting is to get together some of your friends (or use a guest account[s]), go to a playlist called “Social Doubles” (an unranked playlists where you can bring in guests. There are only four players per match), get one kill, and then have your guests to leave the game, letting you win. Free win for you, no loss of experience for your guests.

This is douchebaggery at its finest. Not only did he cheat to get so high a rank, he did it to get something that has absolutely no value in real life. Good job on wasting a large portion of your life to get a worthless picture next to your name. Good game, man. Well played.

A Sad Day in Streaming Television

Though I didn’t use it myself, a lot of my friends swore by http://www.tv-links.co.uk/. It was a site that compiled a listing of many sources for Television shows and movies from around the weberchats. The key thing was that it did not specifically host any of the files available, just provided links to them.

“Sites such as TV Links contribute to and profit from copyright infringement by identifying, posting, organizing, and indexing links to infringing content found on the internet that users can then view on demand by visiting these illegal sites,” said a spokesman for Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) today.

“The theft and distribution of films harms the livelihoods of those working in the UK film industry and in ancillary industries, as well as damaging the economy,” said FACT’s director general Kieron Sharp.

Strangely enough, this was done in the guise of “cutting down on piracy.” Why not go to the actual pirates then, instead of a lowly middleman? Doesn’t particularly make sense to me.

R.I.P. TVLinks.

SOURCE

Sweet AIM Prank

First some background. For those of you who’ve yet to figure it out, Nofirefrog (Of HIH fame), who posts comments on this site under the “pseudonym” of Jason, and I go to the same college. Since he lives in some skanky Freshman dorm (that’s what he gets for transferring from LaTech), he’s often over at my apartment doing… stuff. (Usually clogging up my tubes with his pr0n Mythica downloads or XBL. As such, he has access to my computer.

Secondly, I’m a moderator over at High Impact Halo, so I randomly get messages on AIM (AIM seems to be the one most used, as you can send a message over the chatterwebz without the need for the recipient confirming you as a friend) asking something like, “Hey could you close this thread?” or “Hay, WTF wuz mah 7r3@d cl0zed, dud?” You brighter readers out there may see where this is going…

As I’m infamous for leaving my Trillian open, Jason has been known to respond to them for me (although, I’m usually always around, doing homework or shit). One particular time lead to extreme lulz, which shall be recounted here.

This first part was when he was talking to the person on the other end. I was standing behind him giving “suggestions” to increase the lulz factor:

Him: yo
Him: im the kid whos topic you locked
Him: how old is that?
Him: ..
Me: ZuP created his thread on the 29th of November
Me: September*
Him: oo ok
Him: well did you figure out why its like that?
Him: and how did u get to be a moderator?
Me: Server side error on the former quest
Him: ?
Me: 1337 h4x and magic on the latter
Him: lol
Me: Man, my typing is terrible today, it’s as though I’m not myself
Him: how did u get to be a mod
Me: Dude, I don’t cheat
Me: :P
Him: wow, moderator
Me: yeah, I know.. hence, yes hence, the smile
Him: i no i no
Me: I yes I yes
Me: :P
Him: holy shit dude lolz
Me: I’m quite funny
Him: lol
Him: will u register on my forum?
Him: forum.halouniverse.org
Me: want me to be honest?
Him: no
Me: brutally honest
Him: u wont register
Him: yea ok
Me: No, I’ll register, but that’d be the last time I ever visit
Him: y
Me: most likely
Him: lol y
Me: Hell dude, I barely remember to check HIH
Him: ….
Me: jk
Me: or am I?
Me: >.>
Him: how can i get my site to look better?
Me: I don’t really do site design
Me: I’m not good at those kinds of things
Me: shit, my socks don’t even match
Me: wait, no
Me: they do
Me: do you require any more of my services
Me: ?
Me: but seriously, I didn’t set out to become a mod, I just kind of got picked
Me: I guess I did something right
Me: Good day, Sir
Him: lol
Me: I told you I don’t mod… I don’t know about this terminology…. crazy kids
Him: wtf, r u rlly 19?
Me: Dude, I don’t even see a single word in that “statement”
Him: …
Me: ‘you’re using numbers and shit’
Him: lol omg wtf h4x mb?
Me: seriously, you better not be hacking my megahurtz
Him: LOL
Me: WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!
Him: mega hurts
Me: leprachauns on lemurs?
Him: leps
Me: Larry of Lithuania?
Me: Like Ovulllary Libel?
Him: …?
Me: “lol”… what does it mean?
Him: u really dont know?
Me: I told you, I don’t cheat/mod/hack
Him: laugh out loud.
Me: You’re joshing me
Me: straight up
Him: \stop fucking with me
Me: Wait, what?
Me: there is no sexual innuendo here, friend
Him: your messing with my head LOL
Him: LLMAO
Me: Llama… it’s spelled llama
Him: Laughing my ass off…
Me: why would you want to do?
Me: how do you poop?
Him: do what?
Him: Out my mouth
Me: is that, like a metaphor or something?
Him: no
Him: i dont have an ass man
Him: Its a long story
Me: let me guess, you “laughed” it off?
Him: kinda
Him: morel ike a 3 hour long giggle
Me: how did you breathe?
Me: seiously
Me: Like, inhaling is important
Me: very important
Him: out my….ears
Me: now, it is you who is the one to be “fucking” with me
Him: No I dont fuck men
Me: Um, ok…. I didn’t bring up the “fuck” talk
Me: its you kids that always talk about “stick it in the pooper…”
Me: you’re weirding me out
Him: LOL wow
Me: I’m no longer comfortable with this converstation
Me: conversation*
Him: kk
Me: _
Me: you realize I was just kidding… right?
Me: just messing around with you
Me: This isn’t even galador
Me: I’m just that pro
Me: n00bs and their open programs
Me: fuck, I need to go…
Me: he’s coming
Me: shit, shit
Me: shit
Me: shit
Me: What the hell am I to do?
Me: I hope there isn’t a keygen
Me: quick, where does trillian normally save logs
Me: I need to get rid of this
Me: fuyck, shit
Him: wow
Him: dude
Him: fucking wow
Me: Oh damn
Me: dude, you never talked to me
Me: NEVER
Him: kk
Me: he will so kick my ass
Me: thanks man
Me: I owe you
Me: g2g
Me: ;)

At this point, Jason stepped away from the computer, and I actually took over typing. The dramatic end to our prank come hence:

Him: yo
Him: oyy
Him: o
Him: yo
Him: yo
Him: yo
Me: Hey, what’s up?
Me: How may I help you?
Him: who is this
Him: LOL, how did u become a mod?
Me: … galador
Him: ?
Me: I do hope you AIM’d me for a reason
Him: yes….
Him: but nvm
Him: i was just talking to some other dude on this aim
Him: so im confuesd
Me: … WHAT?!?
Me: What did he say…
Him: well, where u the 1 being a smartass? and saying.. I dont know what LOL means?
Me: No, man. I just got back from a meeting with a study group
Me: Was that asshole on my AIM again?
Me: >_>
Him: ur bro?
Me: No, my roomate…
Me: Soon to be ex-roomate… I’m going to kill his ass
Him: NO DONT
Him: he said not to tell ne 1 i talked to him
Him: I thought it was u messign with me and testing me
Him: but i really had to know
Me: Kill him in a metaphorical sense, of course.
Him: …lol
Me: He told you not ot say anything?
Me: That sonuvabitch
Him: dont kill him
Me: …
Me: Anyways. You needed something?
Him: just wondering why u locked my topic
Him: Now I know though
Him: so yea
Me: Allright, then.
Me: Glad I could… Help?
Him: lol pm pm
Him: thanks and
Him: dude
Him: dont kill ur roomate
Me: Alright. Later, man.

Fairly epic, eh? ;)

Holy Schlapskie! An Entry!

So, yeah… during school, this thing has been a bit neglected, and that’s not a good thing. Part of the problem is that besides Epic Mondays, where my friends and I get together and watch the newest episode of Heroes, class, and doing random stuff around Conway, I really don’t have much “free time.” Nor has anything particularly interesting happened, and I don’t like “forcing” myself to blog. If there’s something cool, I’ll write about it, but if there isn’t, then… what’s happened lately happens.

However, in the next couple of weeks, there are at least two interesting events happening: On October 26, Demetri Martin and Seth Meyers are coming to perform at UCA. Then, on November 12, me and some of my friends are going to see FUCKING BRAND NEW. Those two are going to be really amazing, and I can’t wait. :D

There’s also a secret plan in the works that may or may not involve ninjas. More details later.

Basically, that’s a neat little summary of what’s happened since last entry and what will happen in the next month or so. Stay tuned for more entries in the exciting life of me. :p

Random Road Trip!!!

On Friday night, me and some of my friends decided to go to Righteous Wal-Mart. Now, that requires two explanations: One is that my friends have a habit of naming Wal-Marts. Some of the names include Shitty Wal-Mart, Court Date Wal-Mart, and Beaner-Mart. The second is that Righteous Wal-Mart is in Ruston, Louisiana… about 200 miles away.

It started with one of my friends joking around about where we should go to eat, and then someone suggested we should go to Righteous Wal-Mart. When he said that, some people were like… “:O Sure, let’s go!” So, we had an impromptu roadtrip on our hands. We stopped at Taco Bell for some quick food. Upon returning to the apartment for a supply pick-up, we ran into our first snag. See, my roomate can’t have caffeine at all. It affects him really badly, causing him to get headaches and his heart rate to jump up a crapton. Apparently, some caffeine got into his Serra Mist from Taco Bell. The effects were so bad, that he had to stay at the apartment and lie down to get the stuff out of his system. (Don’t worry, he’s fine now.)

So, after that, we left on our way. On the way up there, one of my friends made some calls to arrange housing (he went to LaTech [which in in Ruston] last year before transferring over to UCA), and get some people together. We also listened to what is quite possibly the most epic playlist ever on my iPod (I’m being serious, too :P).

When we got there, we met up with one of the guys from LaTech and tours of the campus were given. We were going to do some more “in-depth” tours of the campus buildings, but the police were out in full force. We talked for a while, and then we decided to go to Huddle House (it’s like the exact same as a Waffle House, only greasier and cheaper :P), and then made the trip to Righteous Wal-Mart. After one of my friends bought a shit-ton of Lunchables and some sweet tea to drink, we sat in the Electronics department and talked some more while my friend ate (remember, this is like 3 in the morning, we’re not in anyone’s way). After a while, at around 5 AM, we finally went to bed, only to wake up at 10.

When we woke up, we went to Raising Cane’s, a restaurant that serves Chicken… and only chicken. There are about 4 different items you can order off the menu. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though, as it is good chicken. Not only that, but the Cane’s sauce that you get with your food is divine. Amazing stuff.

After Cane’s we made our way back home, listening to moar epic playlist. Overall, I’d say it was a pretty nice impromptu roadtrip. :)

Great Success!

After much hassle, we have finally won.

In case you missed the last entry, our college decided to take out all wired ‘nets in the apartments. Suffice it to say, upon hearing that, we were pretty pissed, so we began an email campaign to just about anyone we could think of: the head of the IT department, the helpdesk, even “Big Lu” the University’s president. Our first few emails were the basic “we’ll look into” emails, but then we got a “lead.” The IT department head said they would look into the wireless, and if it was below “acceptable” operating levels, they would install cable at no charge to the students (if they were acceptable levels, we could still get it for $75 a semester, plus the cost of a modem [though, they left the modems they used in the apartment last year in the apartment, so we already have one of those :P]). We thought that was pretty fair, but we decided to wait until they did the test.

But then, yesterday the internet was completely shit. We ran a speed test on SpeedTest.net, and not only did it take about 54 minutes to run, we were getting a ping of ~400ms, and download of 15kbps and and upload of about 30 kbps. We were pretty angry at that, as we had to do homework over the internet, and we couldn’t because of the shit ‘nets. So, we fired off another email to the IT man, saying we couldn’t do our homework, and showing the results of speed test.

This morning, my roommate received the reply from the finance directory saying they contacted Conway Corp to install the cable interweb in our apartment sometime soon. :D

The war is over, and we have won. :)

My College is Made of Fail…

So, one of the people I’m going to be living with this year at college has been able to move into our apartment early (it’s a school-owned apartment) because he’s in the marching band, and today we learned to our dismay that the “powers that be” are stupid imbeciles.

They decided that they were going to remove all wired methods of Internet from the apartments, including the cable internet, and even the shitty UCAnetsĀ® (if you tried to play Xbox Live with me last semester, then you’ll probably remember how absolutely crap the internet in UCA dorm was).

As of now, there’s only going to be the crap school Wireless Internet available. You can ask any of my friends from school how absolutely crap that is. I’m not exaggerating when I say that it crashes about every 45 minutes.

Suffice it to say, I’m fairly pissed off right now. Things may improve when the main student body moves in on Sunday and people are pissed off because they can’t access the Internet Facebook any way other than wireless. Maybe then the powers that be will realize that removing land-based Internet was just about the stupidest thing they could have done, and they’ll restore the wired LANs (and hopefully the cable internet to the apartments, as well). Heck, my roommates and I have even considered asking if we could pay some sort of fee to get the cable internet back, but it’s idiotic that we’d even have to do that considering that internet fees are included in our tuition/housing fees. This almost feels like extortion just for internet that should be included in the housing “package.”

If they’re not going to restore some kind of wired ‘nets, then maybe they won’t object to paying $100 for the Xbox 360 Wireless adapters three of us in my apartment are going to have purchase so that we can use Xbox Live, and the $50 adapter two of us are going to need to purchase in order to get internet on our desktops. I feel particularly sorry for one of my roommates, as he only has a desktop computer, so unless something gets worked out from higher-up, he’s not going to be using the internet on his desktop.

So, basically, it looks like any chance I had at playing XBL or actually having any semblance of good internet at college has suddenly dwindled to about nil. I am completely disappointed at the administration. Seriously, what the crap were they thinking? I call all this bullcrap.