Portland State University - Freshman Inquiry Final Bridge Test

Create a bridge to hold 20lbs pass/fail format. Enjoy!

ShowNotes:
This week marks the beginning of finals week for PSU Students, and oh boy that sucks. Last weekend I got the chance to go to CyborgCamp - The ultimate unconference experience on human technology bonding. I got to meet the creator of WikiWikiWeb Yeah THAT guy! Check out the stream to check out the full details of the conference.

Some Stories of Note!

Windows 7 Warp Speed for Graphics? — Just a few this time, make it so and check out the Windows 7 Graphics Layer “Warp”, this potentially will help push more power out of the system and streamline resources for gaming and intensive media.
http://tinyurl.com/68tz9y

Survey: Over half of adults play video games — After a day of dirty diapers and “Dora the Explorer,” of laundry and homework time, when her four kids are finally asleep, Sarah Ninesling begins roaming the ruins of a post-apocalyptic Washington, D.C., fighting mutants to help save the survivors of a nuclear war.
http://tinyurl.com/6nrd6c

20 Million German Bank Accounts Stolen - Now for Sale — Identity thieves who claim they stole details of 21 million German bank accounts are offering to sell the data on the black market for €12 million (US$15.3 million), a German magazine reported over the weekend.
http://tinyurl.com/6335hl

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Finals Week by scimanal related [alexwitherspoon.com]

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So I have not gotten around to finishing my latest overview of the CyborgCamp Unconference I went to last weekend! But it IS coming.

I wanted to also mention however the recent mention of AlexWitherspoon.com PodCasts in a FullSignull episode! Check out ALL their shows, because it will cure your leprosy. Make sure to definitely check out show number 7 for the shoutout, and excelent show!

Link:  FullSignull.com - episode 7

ShowNotes from Episode 7
“Nipping at the heels of a terribly slow week in both gaming and tech, we’re still coming back from the holiday in full force. Rick Astley makes a welcome appearance at this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving parade that left the country in a state of disarray. Fable II has new DLC to offer this month. Should we care? Xbox live standings baffled the masses last month with Halo 3 being the number 1 played game. We go back in time and delve into the beastly matriarch that is Final Fantasy III. To wrap things up, we’re talking about our top 3 releases of 2008. Dive in, dudes, enjoy!”

Game: EVE Online
Rating: 3 out of 5

It goes without saying that EVE online is one of many, many MMORPGs available online. an Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing game has the added game benefit of large quantities of human players. In EVE’s instance this creates a massive amount of very real and stimulating simulation in that the players provide a depth of content and experience to the game that current programming lacks far behind in. Many modern games have compensated for the lack of compelling AI and programs for the simple and effective use of the players to help drive the game. This community effect in EVE provides a surreal exposure to all forms of life, both int he game, and literally as one interacts with the various different human players.

The game features an ‘eveolving’ graphics system that ranges from ugly and to the point, to a truly excellent looking game. The scaled down version of eve is small and runs on the most humble of graphics cards, while the premium all out visuals still will run well on even a 1-2year old video card decently. The graphics are stunning in regard to the scale, while at times there can be hundreds of other players in a region it can provide an immerse situation.

In these situations you can play out the roles of a trader,scientist,miner,fighter,pirate,Politician,or Guy who lives in Grandma’s basement. This provides a top down economy from raw materials to end user being provides potentially by human players.

The combat system is turn based, as are all actions within the game. This provides for a manageable-yet slow system to move about and act out your actions. The other premise to this game is the leveling system. Your level depicts your awesomeness/UV level against skin. In EVE unlike other MMORPGs such as WOW you accrue skill continuously even while not playing.  By allowing this one does not have to live in the game as much as some spend in other games, making it is easy to spend a few hours in the game and move on with your real life and be well off in the game.

I gave this game a 3 out of 5 because it will apeal to some and it will be an instant hit, while players who prefer faster gameplay will be dissapointed with how slow it is to train a character, some of the original players of the game are still out there, and they will remain years ahead of the average new player purely because of time and not because of any true player skill.

ShowNotes

Thanksgiving Food - Bucket of Eggs and Bacon
http://tinyurl.com/22klkh

IRS will be watching for gifts to employees!!
http://tinyurl.com/5p2y8z

Russia seeks new missiles due to U.S. shield plans
http://tinyurl.com/5hd7vu

Absurdly Cute Kitten PIC
http://tinyurl.com/5s8y7m

How to be a Programmer: A Short, Comprehensive, and Personal Summary
http://tinyurl.com/5n3ppm

DICE Uses NVIDIA PhysX in Mirror’s Edge
http://tinyurl.com/5f2ejg

What Game Developers Do When Their Games Launch
http://tinyurl.com/5duy9d

TOP 10: Role-Playing Cliches
http://tinyurl.com/6od9qp

The 20 Stupidest GI Joe Vehicles Ever
http://tinyurl.com/6h9q6r

Zero Punctuation: Guitar Hero World Tour
http://tinyurl.com/6qf3gp

Suggested PodCast: FullSignull Gaming Podcast
http://fullsignull.com/

ShowNotes

This episode was a bunch of fun! I hope you enjoy!

3D Dorm Room: Virtual Tour
http://tinyurl.com/5qhzsd

Nifty 50 Lens Review
http://tinyurl.com/6adt3u

Why You Should Never Try to Steal a Law Student’s Laptop
http://tinyurl.com/58l38u

Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan to get life saving anti-sniper device
http://tinyurl.com/6q4n2u

In a fit of irony, iPhone pirating app gets pirated
http://tinyurl.com/6924fn

Apple tells fan to “be patient” about Mac mini
http://tinyurl.com/5vzf5p

Apple Launches “iPhone Your Life” Site
http://tinyurl.com/5qgqbn

Nuclear Moon Bases
http://tinyurl.com/5afpme

Email Submission:

Miracle puppy hit by car at 70mph so hard he was embedded in the grill… and survived
http://tinyurl.com/6h2du7

This was an event we held at MindScapes in Wichita Kansas. It was a hugely successful demonstration of mad geekery. Check out the video!

The issue then arose that the Database for Wordpress was corrupted, and in this moment I decided it was a time for a move. Bluehost became a cheap alternative. I was definitely happy to see the CEO’s blog, and after some very knowledgeable reads I decided bluehost.com was worth a spin. It catered well to podcasting, which is something I wished to expand upon, so this was important to me.

After watching grass grow, erm I mean DNS names propagate I began recreating my site based on old database records. After doing some SQL injection I found my site back up and running.

I also took some time to clean up the look a little bit, and ditched ads, since those made me *maybe* something in the ballpark of $0.50 - $1.20 total.

So with this migration I will delay the Podcast until Sunday so I can do it right.

ShowNotes

Family Visits!

Follow me on Twitter!: http://twitter.com/scimanal

News Articles

Links:
Star Wars Gallery
http://tinyurl.com/6eep6z

What Obama’s Win Means For Gamers
http://tinyurl.com/5rxbh7

PS3 Game Vending Machines
http://tinyurl.com/6faza2

Futuristic Mazda Electric Car
http://tinyurl.com/5fqttr

Colbert Beats Obama to Office!?
http://tinyurl.com/6nycn2

A Plea Against Proposition 8
http://tinyurl.com/5jh5ps

Boy Crushed in Trash Compactor Lives
http://tinyurl.com/6lheqf

Zero Punctuation: Dead Space
http://tinyurl.com/5sw3kb

So Epic I had to share it…

Rating - 5 out of 5

Official Link: http://store.steampowered.com/app/500/

Overview:

The game is a Zombie FPS, focusing on teamwork dynamics in a situation that is extremely jumpy, and fast paced decision making.

My Thoughts:

Playing this demo version of the game I am finding the game play to be refreshingly good. The thrill does not easily get old, and the game keeps changing itself as you play to create new experiences or at least modified experiences every play. This type of game play will keep it interesting right up till the day your hand falls off. The zombies are fast paced, yet realistically slow until they notice you. Co-op mode with up to four players is a welcome edition to the game, and works well bringing an infinitely fun experience when played with friends. I found this game to be exciting and well worth the money.

I hope you enjoy the unleashed gallery - May the Force be with you!

So I am helping out a friend here, He needed a dance video made, and so we made one, and he wanted people to watch it, so I am spreading it around, give it a quick look. I also had some fun playing with video effects. Enjoy, and please leave feedback for this young dancer Ninja. *As a note the name NinjaSpeed was used due to the incredible speed and smoothness of the dance, it was just too much for the camera.

Computers in the modern sense that most recognize were only pigments of imagination to the people using punch cards, programming massive digital computers to perform strenuous calculations. When the computer was given a monitor, a 2D device that could give output to a user; the race was on. The First iterations looked fairly similar, because computers were at this point were designed to interface with a computer engineer, and then the computer engineer was himself the user interface.  At this point in time, it was easiest to simply make every interaction at a text level. These prompt-based interactions would be the building blocks on which the GUI would be born.

The first consumer GUI was without a doubt created by Apple Computers, it was primitive, but simple. It was designed around the basic commands that users were typing in command lines on other machines of the time. To delete for example one simply dragged the item to a trash can. This action while complex represented the “del File.dat” command. This however was the bridge that ultimately made the computer a much easier visual tool for everyone to use, by making it much more intuitive, require less skill, and conform to more universal design.

Apple Lisa Office System

The coming of the GUI came with it a problem; no one was sure what a GUI should be, so copy they did, and they have yet to look back. After the success of Apple’s GUI Windows was quick to start copying and create their own. Windows fought back with a GUI in Windows 1.0

Windows 1

The following refinements took place on the route to developing GUIs

Apple OS 1

Windows 2

Windows 3.1

Windows 95

Windows 98

Motif Window Manager

Apple OS 9

OS2Warp

KDE

Windows XP

Mac OS X

Windows Vista

Mac OS X Leopard

ShowNotes

News Articles
NetFlix.com - Instant Watch On Apple
tinyurl.com/5mxpy8

Revision3.com Cuts back shows
tinyurl.com/6caj3r

Notes on the Video (Created by geeedeee on Vimeo.) :
My Masters of Digital Media major work. Although it is open for interpretation, the work represents the intertwining life cycle of a $10 bill and a male. The bill returns to the male at different stages of his life to show how he reacts to money. Although the character realises that there is more to life than money towards the end, the character is actually in an endless and inescapable cycle, as he shows his son (which really is himself) how to plant a money tree.

Music: Broken Social Scene - Pitter Patter Goes my Heart

Hello Professor XXXXXX,

I am writing to check what homework was assigned on XX, of October, 2008. I was absent due to illness with doctors note.

Thank you,
XXXXX XXXXXXXX

Such was an email sent by a student recently, and similar ones in times past to several Portland State University Professors by many of the student body. The response has been unanimous across the board, that they are “…not paid enough to respond to emails.” These refusals to use email are generally vocal in a harsh manner towards the student, and often occur during class in front of the entire class. This is an interesting dilemma, as in each instance the students who were missing with doctor’s note, and some without are equally penalized and not given assignment information without having to aggressively prod a teacher multiple times for said information.

This problem is multifaceted, in that the teachers are indeed not paid enough, and they are also indeed not doing their jobs proficiently enough. It is a well known fact within University that integration with digital classroom tools such as BlackBoard, Moodle and other derivatives is lacking. While most schools now feature the services, use of the services is limited, and often is not in an effective manner rendering the tools useless. In this condition classes are literally divided in that some homework is posted online while other homework is mentioned offhandedly in class. This polarity of information leaves large margins for error, even for the dedicated student.

Training for teachers has been a top priority for technology staff across the nation as online education components have revolutionized the teaching field. Remote education, better education planning, and instant feedback systems have propelled students into a new era of learning, but has also in many instances left behind the teachers.

Many factors contribute to teacher salary, but email is a simple logistical tool that must be implemented independent of salary. It is clear that student success is directly linked to the communication skills between the teacher and student. 101 level communications courses would tell you that the most important thing to communication is communicating on a medium that the intended target will be able to use and understand. In the modern age of digital communications it is common for persons to use email as such a universal medium as it is direct, recorded, and efficient. If professors are too poor or busy (working a second job?) to write email, in a college setting we the consumers, the students, must also question what else they are too poor to do.

But onto the cool stuff, Robots. Check this video out below, because its cool, and I think you should see it. I personally would love to have several of these in my moat around my house. I would also like a moat.

This is a long awaited feature, and a great move for Netflix! I hope they notice I am on a Mac and push for roll-out of my user name faster!

Silverlight will allow for a much wider base of devices to use their services. I cannot wait for it, and since it is already in roll out phase it’s just a matter of time now.

read more | digg story

I created this to scare my young sister, and test out my camera and editing. It came out alright and the publishing went smoothly. I think its a funny little test of the HV30 Vixia Canon Video Camera I use.

This is a movie my brother Austin made for a Counter Strike team. I am hosting it for him to share with his friends, and because perhaps for some reason you would like a video made for you. use the contact page to get in touch. he does these videos for free, and seems to get better every time he does them.

• Personal Happenings
• Quick Important News
• Funny recommended Videos Online
• Computer Tips
• Reviews of upcoming Technology
• Special Events as they occur, such as but not limited to Christmas, AlexWitherspoon.com Day, Woot-Offs and other things I deem important.

This was a contest entry for Velocity Micro’s online Video Challenge. I put relatively no effort into the videos, … but they came out alright.

My Reaction:

It is something humans do, we do it out of ease, we catalog. People are often watching and trying to make sense of the complicated and adverse interactions of other human beings and how they interact with the world . These interactions are best categorized by simply putting people into simple sections, organizing them into easy little containers. This brings about stereotyping, a natural method of the mind attempting to make sense of the world.

As I watched “A Class Divided” for the first time, I was compelled to see this exercise to its completion. Young people are without the knowledge and grounded beliefs to think they know or have the concept of knowing. In the short documentary “A Class divided” a group of third graders were told that they were fundamentally different based on eye color and that these differences were going to make a difference in how they responded and reacted to the people around them. The fact is that in a moment the teacher instilled into them a set of beliefs they took to be so sincere and true, they were left with no option but to trust and react to them. She instilled in these children in 15 minutes the simple concepts of racism, and then gave the meaning power, giving a chance for each set of children both the ‘blue eyes’ and the ‘brown eyes’ to have their chance at acting as if they were both victims and the people acting out the stereotype. This was a coarse method and it was harsh on such a young set of people, who had no chance to reconcile these ideas against their own, but as a society we do value the direction this teaching pushed on the children.

As I was watching the method to the madness I was impressed with the results, but most importantly I found from the video that these children were allowed to feel power, and from this they increased their potential in the classroom. It seemed the change of perspective was the most important component in this experiment, by allowing the students to know more was possible for them. To rise above others though always comes at a cost which was apparent as I watched the children fight with one another, and dissolve into what we witness today in society,

This was a contest entry for Velocity Micro’s online Video Challenge. I put relatively no effort into the videos, … but they came out alright.

This was a video feature from the last day of school at East High School for the class of 2008. I walked around the whole day with a camera and captured the final moments on tape.

During my quest to take people photos I ran into a great bunch of half people,(toddlers) who were being led around in groups. I was in fact in a park and the weather was nice. The kids were scampering around playing their games, whether it be crying to get attention, running, grabbing, or falling.

So Check this Gallery Out!