Saw this at Jerry Pournelle's place a couple weeks ago: apparently Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle recently had lunch with some folks from Bungie.

If you're not a gamer AND a science fiction geek, you're probably wondering about the significance of this. Well, Larry Niven is the SF author who dreamed up and described a "ringworld" in his suitably-named, bestselling, and [Hugo and Nebula] award-winning novel. And Bungie is the software company that developed one of the greatest first-person-shooters of all time, Halo, which takes place on the surface of a ringworld.

What I wouldn't have given to be a fly on the wall at that lunch. Geek heaven.

The really cool scoop? Pournelle relates that he and Niven were talking about stories of theirs that could be adapted by Bungie for new games, especially The Legacy of Heorot. Back in college, a buddy of mine who was into film (he makes videos for a living now) thought that Heorot was a natural for adaptation to the big screen. I strongly agree. But if it can't be a movie, I would love to see it come to life in a video game medium. The rich interactivity of a well-designed game brings many more hours of entertainment to me than all but a very few movies and TV shows.

Pournelle touched on this interactivity in Halo with Bungie:

The funny thing is, at that scene in Halo, if you go back and kill the skipper, the Marines will storm the bridge, lock you in and attack you until you die. The Marines become invincible. It's kind of fun in a twisted way to see how long you can last.

In any case, I hope this project is made. I'm holding off on the purchase of an Xbox 360 until Halo 3 ships, but if this came out before then, I would upgrade in an instant.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:52 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Via fellow Texan, Rightwingsparkle, here are some of the 59 things a man over 30 shouldn't do. The complete list of 59 is here.

I just recently turned 38, and have bolded the ones that I have, in fact, done:

• Coin his own nickname.


• Use a wallet that is fastened with Velcro.


• Rank his friends in order of best, second best, and so on.


• Hacky sack.


• Hang art with tape. (only in the kids' rooms)


• Ask a policeman, "You ever shoot anybody with that thing?"


• Ask a woman, "Hey, you got a license for that ass?"


• Skip. (with my daughter)


• Take a camera to a nude beach.


• Let his father do his taxes.


• Shout out a response to "Are you ready to rock?" (but only in the privacy of my car)


• Hold a weekly house meeting with roommates.


• Name pets after Middle Earth characters.


• Jokingly flash gang signs while posing for wedding photos.


• Give shout-outs.


• Use numbers in place of words or locations, such as "the 411" for information, or "the 313" for Detroit


• Compare the trajectory of his life with those of the characters in Billy Joel's "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant. (Who hasn't?)


• Request extra sprinkles.


• Air drum. (Who can listen to Tom Sawyer or YYZ and not?)


• Choose 69 as his jersey number


• Eat Oreo cookies in stages. (Oh, yeah, baby. And make your own double-and triple stuffs).


• End a conversation with "later skater."


• Hold his lighter up at a concert.


• Wear Converse All Stars with a tuxedo.


• Propose via stadium Jumbotron.


• Decide anything based on the ruminations of Howard Stern.


• Call "shotgun" before getting in a car. (?)


• Mist up during Aerosmith's "Dream On." (I get the feeling the author of this list likes to sip wine coolers while admiring the new window treatments, if you catch my drift... not that there's anything wrong with it...)


• Purchase fireworks.


• Google the word vagina.


• Ride a pony.


• Sport an ironic mustache.


• Say "two points" every time he throws something in the trash.


• Buy a novelty postcard in another country of topless women on a beach and write, "Wish you were here" on it


• Purchase home-brewing paraphernalia.


• The John Travolta point-to-the-ceiling-point-to-the-floor dance move; also that one from Pulp Fiction.


• Keep a minuscule amount of marijuana extremely well hidden.


• Watch the Pink Floyd laser light show at a planetarium.


• Refer to his girlfriend's breasts as "the twins."


• Own a vanity plate.


• Say goodbye to anyone by tapping his chest and even so much as whispering, "Peace out."

Not bad, I guess.

Posted by: JohnL at 08:50 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Check out this very cool video making the rounds on the Internet in which comedian Chris Bliss closes his routine juggling to the strains of the Beatles' "The End" (one of my favorite Beatles songs):

Here's the story behind the routine.

Some excerpts to whet your appetite:

First I discover my art, and now I have found my soulmate. Could the signs be any clearer? Oh, sure, a more objective view might be that I'd dropped out of college to be a juggler, and been picked up by a crazy woman in a bar. On dimer night.
....
Within six months the band broke up. I should've seen it coming the night the flute player asked me to help tie him off. If the woodwinds are shooting smack, you can imagine the bass player's problems.
....
The only part of the whole ride not based in delusion was, of all things, my juggling. It turned out I'd stumbled onto a concert promoter's dream opening act. No set-up or sound check, and if they threw things at the stage, I'd catch them.

I worked with Kenny Loggins, Duran Duran a couple times. I opened for Clapton once. I did an arena tour with the so-called supergroup Asia.

I was even on the Midnight Special on NBC - remember that show, with Wolfman Jack? I still remember the Wolfman's intro - "Whoever said a picture was worth a thousand words was talking about Chris y'know."

And then in 1984, unbelievably, I was asked to be the opening act for Michael Jackson and his brothers on the Victory Tour, the most hyped tour of the decade.

Between me and Michael, we sold over 3 million tickets. And when it was over, I'd actually become the world's most famous juggler.

Funny guy. And I like the musicality of his juggling.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:10 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Two of my favorite things: Legos and the Firefly 'verse.

Check out this picture of the Serenity's drive lit from within.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:35 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Check out this optical illusion.

I'm always amazed at these tricks, which take advantage of some aspect of the brain's hard-wiring.

(Hat tip: Jonah Goldberg).

Posted by: JohnL at 08:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This quiz is astoundingly accurate. If there were a living to be made in linguistics, that's where I would still be. I actually went to UT planning to double-major in computer science and linguistics, with the goal of developing a real AI that could understand and use human language. I was possibly smart enough (who knows?), but definitely not disciplined or committed enough to achieve that goal.

(Hat tip: Mixolydian Mode).

Posted by: JohnL at 10:04 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Inspired by Robbo's recent movie bleg which revealed the names of several movies I would like to add to my Netflix queue, I thought I would start one of those Internet meme/game thingies to get yet more ideas for my already-lengthy list and maybe inspire some of y'all to try some of these.

Here's what you do:

1. Go to your Netflix (or Blockbuster online) queue.
2. List ALL of the movies in the queue (at the very least, try to list at least the first ten).
3. Italicize (or bold) the ones you've seen before.
3a. (OPTIONAL) include snarky commentary or thumbnail reviews where desired.
4. Tag 3 people.

This is what's currently in my queue:

• Whales: An Unforgettable Journey: IMAX (1997)


• The Pink Panther
(Why remake this classic? Why?)

• Rope


• Alice


• Notorious


• Primer
(This will require multiple viewings to figure out. It was filmed here in the Richardson/Plano areas north of Dallas).

• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
(Khaaaaan!!!)

• MST3K: The Crawling Hand


• Metropolis


• Run Lola Run


• Woman in the Moon


• The Americanization of Emily


• Hombre


• Cool Hand Luke


• The Adventures of Robin Hood
(the non-Costner, non-Bryan-effin'-Adams everything I do version)

• The Mark of Zorro (1940)


• Kelly's Heroes
(one of my favorites as a kid)

• The Outlaw Josey Wales
(I never much liked John Wayne westerns. Eastwood, on the other hand...)

• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly


• Two Mules for Sister Sara
(check out who played the nun)

• Being There
("There will be growth in the spring!" -- be sure to check out the super groovy Eumir Deodato version of Also Sprach Zarathustra)

• Madagascar


• Colossus: The Forbin Project


• Vanilla Sky


• Fight Club


• Destination Moon


• First Men in the Moon


• Mystic River


• Ocean's Twelve


• Who Framed Roger Rabbit?


• Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy


• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind


• Love Actually


• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow


• Existenz


• The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai


• Frankenstein / Bride of Frankenstein


• Forbidden Planet


• Jacob's Ladder
(I loved this movie when I last saw it more than 10 years ago. Curious about how much I'll like it now).

• The Magic Christian


• Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon


• La Vallee
(for the Pink Floyd soundtrack)

I'm tagging Rob, The Country Pundit, and Professor Hall.

Posted by: JohnL at 07:41 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Which OS are You?

Shamelessly acquired from Buckethead.

Posted by: JohnL at 05:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Check out this ad copy describing Pixie Maté:

Hmm... Pixie. Llama-load.

We've either found the official drink of Munuviana or further evidence that Pixy's quest for world domination is proceding apace.

Posted by: JohnL at 04:43 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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So, when Stephen Green's lovely wife delivers their firstborn in the near future, I say let's pitch in and get the new dad a present that will allow him to spend hours (and hours and hours) of quality time with the young one in just a few years (click the extended entry for more):

more...

Posted by: JohnL at 11:07 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This Aggie seems to find a correlation between the hotness of the coeds at college games and their teams' success (namely, as a recruiting selling point). He also reveals the secret to catch the attention of "perverted camera men" to get on TV. It involves tanning, treadmills, and tight t-shirts.

Mildly NSFW pictures.

(Via BadJocks, who pass along this related site).

Posted by: JohnL at 10:31 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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(Via The Maximum Leader)

Posted by: JohnL at 08:23 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I am reveling in the glorious addiction that is Civilization, namely Civ IV.

So far I've won pretty decisively via the Space Race (with the Americans) and diplomatically (as the English) on the second-easiest difficulty, but am having trouble with more advanced difficulty settings.

I was quite unimpressed with Civ III, especially in contrast to Civ II, which I had played on and off for several years. The addictive nature of these games (apart from getting to play god on an epic scale) derives from their turn-based nature. Each turn usually lasts about 1-3 minutes. Not much time, eh?

But for some reason you find yourself staring at the screen at 1:30 in the morning thinking: "Just one more turn? Sure." And you abandon other non-mandatory pursuits (such as music, blogging, reading, etc.)

I'm hoping to post some more pieces this week, as I'm taking the week of Thanksgiving off from work. No promises, but please check back.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:23 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Check out the funny little Flash movie here.

(Via Fred Himebaugh).

Posted by: JohnL at 11:39 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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(Via Owlish)

Posted by: JohnL at 10:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Apparently, a majority of Americans does or has the following things. I have struck the ones that do not apply.

Via Caltech Girl. Go wish her a happy first blog-day.

Posted by: JohnL at 08:55 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Here's a fun little blog-toy based on Technorati info:

Anybody want to buy my blog?

(Blogshares currently undervalues me, by almost $40,000! Bah!)

Posted by: JohnL at 11:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Which Food Network chef are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I don't know if that fits, as I've never seen Brown. The food "celebrities" I like best are Emeril, Jacques Pepin, Michael Chiarello, and of course Rachel Ray.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:47 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Professor Chris Hall has a funny collection of limericks over at his blog, Spacecraft.

(Think Lewinsky and Kaczynski).

Posted by: JohnL at 11:12 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I found this "polygraph" meme at Robert's place. Funny thing is, I could have almost incorporated all of his answers by reference.

Here are the true/false questions with my answers and commentary:

1. I'm at my best in the early morning. False - At least, not until I've consumed my "breakfast" (see number 2). I believe that the world is run by a vicious and evil conspiracy of morning people. Why should they set the rules, just because they're the first ones out of bed?? What sadist on the Plano school board determined that 7:45 is a good time for kids to start school?

2. I start each day with a healthy breakfast. - False - Rob had a great answer here, though with the recent news about coffee and antioxidants, I would argue that my 3-4 cups of coffee for breakfast are actually good for me. I am a two-meal-a-day person, with a nighttime snack/dessert usually around 11:00.

3. I'm always sure to get at least 7 hours of sleep each night. - False - What Robbo said: "Actually, it's more like five. (See answers to Questions 1 and 7.)" I blog, play piano, or watch movies/cable at night when everyone else in the house has retired.

4. I enjoy my job. -True - Lawyering is sometimes a pain, but my current job as an in-house generalist for a high-tech company has to be a dream gig to beat all dream gigs in the legal field.

5. I get along with most everyone. -True - I am normally an introverted personality type, but I can put on a good mask and pretend to like people. Once I get comfortable with a group, I am usually seen as a nice guy.

6. I'm looking forward to the new season of tv shows this year. Mostly False - I don't really look forward to much except for the remainder of the new Battlestar Galactica, South Park (which I can finally see now that we have cable) , and the new season of Desperate Housewives (even though I'm sure it will jump the shark within the first couple of episodes of the season).

7. I make sure I take some time for myself every day. True - I try to spend 3 to 4 hours a night to myself, reading, writing, playing Xbox, or watching a movie.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:37 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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