Absolutely...
| hitmark: | is it me or is americans in love with absolutes? |
| Pharmboy: | You are 100% correct. Anything less would be un-American. |
February 18, 2010
February 17, 2010
February 16, 2010
Economics Improve for First Commercial Cellulosic Ethanol Plants
Creating fuel from non-edible plant products like corncobs and switchgrass is becoming economically viable. This could help to get us off of our dependence on fossil fuels without using up food and contributing to world hunger.
How to Run Transport Tycoon Deluxe in Windows XP, Vista, 7 and Linux with OpenTTD!
Back in the nineties, I wasted many joyous hours playing Chris Sawyer’s classic simulation game Transport Tycoon. That game was the seed that eventually resulted in the very successful Rollercoaster Tycoon franchise. A year or two ago, I got the urge to play it again, but was disappointed to find that installing it on newer versions of Windows wasn’t particularly easy as the original was a DOS game.
After a bit of searching, I found that there is a great project called OpenTTD which is “an open source remake and expansion” [wikipedia] of Transport Tycoon Deluxe. OpenTTD has made many significant enhancements to the original gameplay, and it runs on Windows, Linux, and a few other operating systems.
Installing the game requires two steps:
- Download and run the installer or archive from OpenTTD’s site (or your Linux distro’s repository). This page should give you the correct download for your OS. If you’re an Ubuntu user, APT will give you a somewhat current version.
- Check out section 4.1 of the readme file (currently available here) to figure out which, if any, files you will need from the original TTD (Note: if you are using the Windows installer this may be unnecessary). After installation, you will also want to use the in-game downloader to install some opponent AI.
Once you’ve gotten everything running, you may want to read some strategy tips at the excellent OpenTTD wiki.
Enjoy!
Note: this is a follow-up to my previous post on the subject. I noticed that I was getting a lot of hits to that article, so I thought I’d update everyone since I ended up going in a different direction afterwards.
February 12, 2010
Windows patch cripples XP with blue screen, users claim
Better headline:
PC Repair Technicians Laud New Microsoft Patch as “Pennies from Heaven”
February 11, 2010
Fair - Disappearing World
My favorite band, Fair, released their new album this week. You can hear the full album here: http://bit.ly/dwfair
Fair’s first album, The Best Worst-Case Scenario, was an absolute masterpiece. I shared it with a few friends and it invariably ended up in heavy rotation on their music players. The new release, Disappearing World, is a little darker and has a bit of a retro feel to it. I’ve listened through it a few times now, and while I’d have loved a clone of the first record, I like how this one turns the “poppiness” down just a touch and introduces a bit more track-to-track variety.
If you’ve only got time for one song, check out track 4, “One Last Time”. It’s a straight-up rocker and reminiscent of my favorite song, “Cut Down Sideways” from the first record.
The other two “catchiest” tunes on the record are “Walking in My Sleep” and the title track. However, the one that is really growing on me is the most “retro” of the bunch, “Take Some Risks.”
You can buy their CDs from their label (Tooth and Nail) here. Digital downloads are available from iTunes.
January 28, 2010
January 25, 2010
Google Voice Chrome Extension Makes Calling and SMS Even Easier
This is great. Now when I find a phone number online, I can just call it from whichever phone I want via the browser without having to transcribe it from the screen to the phone keypad.
January 20, 2010
