May 2008 Archives

The disc golf meetup met today at Wilco. And it was very large. Too large. The first problem was that John had introduced bag tags to the group that you can compete over. You can only do this with singles. So no one wanted to play doubles today.

The other problem was how the group was split up. Or not as the case might be. Instead of just quickly making groups of four, or even randomly assigning groups of four, John decided that everyone should play at once until people's score differentiated them into groups. I guess the losers should play with other losers. This is not very optimal. Everyone slowly walks ahead. There is confusion about who throws next, etc. Finally, after forty minutes, we split into groups at hole 4.

But, even then, we still have a bottle-neck. The individual groups don't wander ahead to different holes. So I decided to ditch the group and jump to hole 11. Even occasionally throwing multiple times, I was able to finish the course quickly. I made a birdie on hole 12. And I had fun.

It looks like someone made a sign for the bee tree. I hope that this does not point out the bees to everyone and make them a target.

Wow. That monstrosity gets better gas mileage than my truck does! I should trade up. I wonder if they offer free gas cards as well?

Mr. Toad loves to spend the night entranced by my Malibou light. Moths are attracted to the light and he makes a meal out of them.

The frackin' neighborhood kids occasionally mess with the metal covers on the outdoor water shut-off valves. Why, I will never understand. Because they are there probably. And, because it was left off, Mr. Toad must have fell in. I let him escape on his own. But the next day he was still there. So I reached in and helped him out. I didn't want him dying there...

I took a pie making class at Central Market last week and I just had to try making another one. It came out pretty well if I do say so myself. Mmmm, pie...

Antiquity

Ed wanted to play Brass. I certainly wanted to play it again. But Jon was up for a game of Antiquity and I just had to play that!

Once again I chose to go for Santa Maria. I don't know what it is about this game for me, but I always choose to go for the easier saint. Tom was new to this game and he did well. He didn't die, he didn't run out of wood, and he was going along. I stored food early in this game. Which was good. It kept me from having to take graves (both Jon and Tom were taking graves). The only problem was that I wasn't producing wood quick enough. It limited me towards the end of the game. But I still won though.

Catan Dice Game

Next, we tried the new Settler's dice game while we waited for the other tables to finish up. It was okay for a dice game. Even though the dice were certainly hosing me this game, I didn't finish too far behind everyone.

Through The Ages

We finished off the night with Through the Ages. Strangely enough, we noticed that we got a rule wrong. You are supposed to discard two yellow tokens at the end of an era (previously, we were only discarding one). This makes the game a little harder.

In this game, I ignored my army completely. Which you shouldn't do because it paints a huge target on your back. But I got lucky. I wasn't attacked during the first and second eras. However, I noticed that Tom was getting quite aggressive. His army was huge. My spidey sense was tingling rather fiercely. So I took and played Ghandi as a leader. This forestalled a war that he was planing to use on me because he didn't have enough red tokens. Both Jon and I could see that the game would end soon. I could only hope that my large difference in scoring would keep me ahead of Tom at the end. On the last turn, Tom was finally able to declare war on me. I could only get the difference between our armies to be thirty points. This gave Tom a good delta on me. But it wasn't enough. I still finished ahead of him for the win.

Tom did get rather pissed off at Jon and I though for noticing how many cards were left. We do consider that to be public knowledge. However he thought it should be a surprise. Different game groups have different styles, I guess.

I found this message floating in the community pool. Wow, what poor writing ability. I wonder if the message was delivered? It reads:

tell him that Keeke
leaf and she been gone 42 h
and she leaf he fone
and it not lyk her 2 leaf
her fone and ? when is
DA last time u talk 2 h?l

I have been riding past this house when I bike for a while now. And I never noticed what was in the back yard. It looks like a M.I.G.-21! I should just walk up to the house some time and ask to see it...

This is the same route that goes past an aviation community with Cessnas in garages.

And, of course, the detour tree. Mr road has no choice but to go around Mr. tree.

I wanted to take a picture of a lizard on the outdoor storage cabinet. But he was nervous. He ran off when I got too close. I did leave the tripod out and set up. But Mr. Lizard was having none of that.

This one was a little better. Maybe because he had no where close to hide.

Amyitis

First up tonight was Amyitis. This is an interesting game. But probably not one that you should play only once every year (or six months) or so. There are many ways to score. And it helps to keep previous playings in mind when you play this.

Tichu

Doug was getting all of the cards at the beginning. He made four Tichus in a row before finally being set.

Due to, not one, but two scoring errors we thought we were clawing our way back to victory. First, we called and made two desperation Grand-Tichus. The score was 910 to 990. We needed to call Tichu, make it, and then score at least 45 points. Which we did!

Sadly, that version could not stand up to the scrutiny of entering the score into the system...

As I was walking back home from the swimming pool, I came across this dead bird. It looked like it died in a flying position.

I know that people put rice in salt shakers to help absorb moisture (How much moisture can a grain of rice absorb? Wouldn't you need to change them occasionally?). But, seriously, this shaker has more rice in it than salt!

I went to Sam's Club and bought the smallest PSMO (IMPS/NAMP 189A: Peeled, Side Meat On) that I could find for $40.13. The packaging that you see is exactly how the processing plant ships it. All Sam's Club did was stick a label on it. I learned about tenderloins thanks to Alton Brown.

I cut away all of the fat and "silver skin" (connective tissue). I proportioned four rather large steaks. My eyes were definitely bigger than my stomach was. Next time I will make 6 or 8 servings.

I put a cast iron skillet on the grill and preheated it to 600 degrees Fahrenheit. I then seared the sides for a minute each.

I then liberally salted and peppered them and vacuumed sealed them in food saver bags. Mmmmm....

The meetup group went to Cat Hollow. And it was quite large. There were ten people to start with. We spent some time looking for discs on hole one. This was enough motivation for three teams to leave us and play hole 2. Unfortunately, I was stuck in the slow and smoking group.

I was teamed up with a new person named Tim. It was amusing to learn that he was red/green color-blind when he was trying to spot his red disk among the green leaves in a tree. We did pretty well. My Ace Race disc put me within range of a birdie on hole 2.

I also threaded the needle and landed close enough for a birdie on hole 6.

On hole 12, my Panther flew correctly to land near enough for another birdie (although it didn't look like it in mid-flight)!

Tim also did well and got us close enough for other birdies. We kept neck-in-neck for the lead the whole game.

I went to Wilco today for some disc golf. For the first time, I actually scored a par on hole 10! With no mulligans, even.

And on hole 12, my Ace Race disc was good enough for a birdie (but still no ace yet).

Big Three

While we waited for Marty to show up, we played a couple of hands of Big Three.

Through The Ages

Its sad that out of all of the more than five-hundred games that I own, Jon only wants to play less than a handful of them. He didn't even want to play Antiquity, which I thought that he liked. So we played Through the Ages.

I tried going for a military economy. Chapel was out in the lead with a good point generating economy. At the mid game, Chapel was still in the lead, so we knew that we had to do something. I was able to assassinate his leader only two turns before the era ended. Marty built up his military and declared war on Mike. Mike was not able to defend against the aggression and went from first to third. Marty scored a lot of points towards the end of the game and this clinched first place for him. I secured second and Chapel was able to beat Jon for third place.

Prepare to be run over...

Anyone failing to display the mandatory black velvet Methodist style painting of President Quayle on their living room wall... WILL BE SHOT.

For the longest time I have kept the same signature. Perhaps it has been for too long. But I have never been motivated to change my signature even when I have come across interesting quotes. It must be the result of pure laziness, I guess. Or a hole in my psyche.

The earliest recorded example of my quote is here on Tue Oct 28 12:28:16 PST 1997 where I fell into a trap of an internet spammer.

I remembered a song with those words in it. Back in the times of Bill, Sean, & Sean. But I could not remember which song it was. I tried searching of course. But I was never successful. You would think that it would be easy to find. There are only 9 hits on web pages that have the words "Anyone failing to display" in them. Plus, who uses the words Quayle, Velvet and Methodist at the same time?

Recently, I came across this Twitter post. Which is my signature. Those bastards! This spurred me into renewed searching for the source of my quote.

I found this posting:

We interrupt this program with a special bulletin.

AMERICA IS NOW UNDER MARTIAL LAW.

All constitutional rights have been suspended. Stay in your homes. Do not attempt to contact loved ones, insurance agents, or attorneys.

SHUT UP.

Do not attempt to think, or depression may occur. Stay in your homes. Curfew is at 7pm sharp, after work.

Anyone caught outside the gates of their subdivision sectors after curfew will be shot.

REMAIN CALM. DO NOT PANIC.

Your neighborhood watch officer will be by to collect urine samples in the morning. Anyone caught interfering with the collection of urine samples - WILL. BE. SHOT.

Houses will be inspected for trace elements at noon.

Anyone failing to display the required embossed Mexican velvet painting of Alexander Haig on their living room wall - WILL. BE. SHOT.

Cameras and surveillance equipment will be posted on all lampposts and streetlights. Anyone failing to attend required worship services on Sunday will be promptly arrested and dispatched to a re-education resort.

Stay in your homes. REMAIN CALM.

The number one enemy of progress is questions. National security is more important than individual will.

All sports broadcasts will proceed as normal. No more than two people may gather anywhere without permission. Use only the drugs prescribed by your boss or supervisor.

SHUT UP! BE HAPPY!

Obey all orders without question. The comfort you've demanded is now mandatory. BE HAPY! At last -- everything is done for you.

It was very close. Obviously that person was inspired by the same source.

Finally, I found this posting:

This kind of thing always reminds me of a song off the "Terminal City Ricochet" soundtrack by Jello Biafra... "Message from our Sponsor". It's a pretty funny yet chilling song.

"ANNYONE WHO INTERFERES WITH THE COLLECTION OF MANDATORY URINE SAMPLES WILL... BE... SHOT..."

"ANYONE FAILING TO DISPLAY THE REQUISITE MEXICAN VELVET PORTRAIT OF PRESIDENT QUAYLE WILL... BE... SHOT..."

"RELAX. EVERYTHING IS DONE FOR YOU. THE CONVENIENCE YOU HAVE REQUESTED FOR SO LONG IS NOW MANDATORY..."

-- LC

JACKPOT! It listed a soundtrack CD and artist. The movie was Terminal City Ricochet. And the music artist was Jello Biafra

I went out and purchased the sound-track right away. Track number 12 was "Message from Our Sponsor/Object-Subject." The lyrics are the following:

We interrupt this program with a special bulletin. This territory is now under martial law. All constitutional rights have been suspended. Stay in your homes. Do not attempt to contact loved ones, insurance agents or attorneys.

Shut up! Do not attempt to think, or depression may occur. Stay in your homes. Curfew is at 7pm sharp after work.

Anyone caught outside the gates of their subdivision zones after curfew WILL BE SHOT. Remain calm, do not panic. Your neighborhood watch officer will by to collect urine samples in the morning. Anyone interfering with the collection of urine samples WILL BE SHOT.

Houses will be inspected for trace elements at noon. Anyone failing to display the mandatory black velvet Mexican style painting of President Quayle on their living room wall WILL BE SHOT. Under provisions of zero tolerance and the child protection and obscenity enforcement act, all property and life savings of suspected drug users and distributors of pornography will be seized and sold prior to trial. Cameras and surveillance equipment will be placed on all lamp posts and street lights. Anyone who fails to attend prescribed worship services on Sunday will be promptly arrested and dispatched to a reeducation resort.

Stay in your homes. Remain calm. The number one enemy of progress is questions.

National security is more important than individual rights.

Sports broadcasts will proceed as scheduled.

No more than two people may gather anywhere without permission.

Use only the drugs prescribed by your boss or your supervisor.

Shut up! Be happy! Obey all orders without question.

Shut up! Consume! The comfort you've demanded is now mandatory. At last everything is done for you.

I was surprised how close I was. Mexicans and Methodists are interchangeable, right?

-----

Anyone failing to display the mandatory black velvet Methodist style painting of President Quayle on their living room wall... WILL BE SHOT.

The impossible art of Li Wei link via

Battlestar's crazy closers link via

The Milky Way galaxy suspended in a glass cube link via

More than 150 individual clockworks tell time link via

Font bots link via

New crescent moon link via

One gate, multiple locks link via

Experiment: 96% of passers-by ignore famous artist's street painting link via

Unpacking an iPhone link via

Eagles vs. Goats vs. Florez link via

Safe baby pregnancy tips link via

Fractal animals [ed: misleading term] link via

Micro panorama link via

Cities at night link via

All streets link via

The Royal Mint's new design for coins link via

The one day poem pavilion link via

Bob Dylan's head link via

Opposing team helps home run hitter run the bases after a knee injury link via

NOVA 3D LED Display link via

VR bubbles link1 link2 via

Piet (artistic programming language) link via

Apple toilet paper dispenser link via

VW 1L released in 2010 link via

The engineer's guide to cats link via

Music video performed on public CCTVs and requested footage via Britain's Data Protection Act link via

DIY beauty dish link via

What is the universe expanding into? link via

Polymer clay color scales link via

While I was messing around with my camera, I came across an interesting problem in photography. What happens if you take a picture of a white cat in the middle of a snowfield or, for that matter, a black cat in the middle of a coal mine? Well, if you use an automatic camera, you are going to get a rather gray picture. You see, the camera figures that an average exposure of a scene is 18%. This is the middle of a geometric scale between black and white. And who says that your camera's 18% is really 18%?

The first picture is a white sheet in bright daylight. Or, it is at least what the camera took of it. Adobe Photoshop tells me that the average values for this picture are around 140,140,140.

This time, I stick an 18% gray card in front of the scene and tell to camera to lock onto that value with its meter by using the "AE Lock Feature" (with the FEL button (Flash Exposure Lock)). It got closer, with average values of 230,230,230, but still not in the ballpark.

I finally switched the metering to "spot metering", metered the scene, and then changed the exposure compensation until the bar was at the top of the graph. It got much closer this time with values around 247,247,247. 8 off. Which is close enough for today's exercise. Who says the paper was perfectly white anyways?

The meetup group met out at Wilco park today. I drove past a marathon out on Chandler Boulevard.

We had seven to start out with (two teams of two and one of three). There were two new people that came. One was supposed to be only taking pictures. But when his friend hurt his elbow, he played. I paired with Gravitt today. We birdied hole two. Later on (around hole four), two more people showed up (well, one guy and his son).

I came across a rather colorful orange mushroom. I'm guessing that it is poisonous. William tells me it is a Amanitaceae mushroom.

With nine people playing we played rather slow. And we finished at one pm.

Apparently the big group was getting on John's nerves. He kept listening to long and mellow music during the day.

Just a quick round around the hill on Old Settler's Park. I got a birdie on hole 9. Man it's starting to get hot outside...

That is what the camera sensor sees after cropping. With a 72mm front side and a 13mm rear side, you get some extreme distortion. Too bad I can't find a fish-eye to rectilinear converter that actually works correctly.

Only Jon RSVPed for games tonight. So we decided to play disc golf at Wilco instead. It was a surprise to me to find John Gravitt already out there and just finishing up. Apparently, this was the second time that he played disc golf today.

I had a birdie on hole 5.

It must be mating season for snakes because we ran into a couple of them. And just after I had taken this picture, Jon stomped this baby snake. He hates snakes.

An interesting mistake. The phone doesn't include aperture and shutter EXIF information with the picture. But I am guessing that it was a slow one (1/30th of a second or less).

We stopped by Chuy's afterwards for dinner. I like this sign in the men's restroom. I didn't know that alcohol affected the sperm and that would hurt my baby's brain, heart, kidneys and other organs.

Just messing around with taking pictures. I wonder what my neighbor thinks? I'm sure a camera pointed towards her house might cause a little bit of a concern?

Today was the second annual Cinco de Fly-o at Twin Parks Country Club. We arrived there early. Early enough to practice some holes. Unfortunately, we practiced the red tees but we actually played the blue tees at the tournament. One good note was that it did not rain today! This is the first tournament that I have been in where I was actually dry.

Our group had five people in it. We played relatively quickly and were not forced to wait on a group ahead of us. Which was nice. It was a little too windy out today though.

I did all right today. I had some good throws. And Jon and I remained competitive. In the end, he only beat me by one stroke (congratulations!). I think that John mentioned that I had beaten him last year and that his goal was to do better this year. Unfortunately, the tournament got to him and he did much worse this year.

There was one tragic event that happened today. After the tournament finished, we were all sitting around talking and waiting for the free lunch. I hear this kid screaming at the top of his lungs "I don't want to die!" At first, I discounted it as a reaction to the parent throwing him in the air or tossing him around or something. But he kept screaming it. We find out that he was playing around in the rocks and must have slipped and fell on one. It had cut a rather deep gash in his leg. Deep enough for someone to call the paramedics out. The ambulance took a while to appear (apparently it came up from San Marco). The kid didn't really calm down until the ambulance arrived (hopefully, they gave him some strong drugs).

We skipped going to Papasitos and went down to Manor to try out their new disc golf course. I had previously driven down there only to not find the course. This time we drove around a bit (and even encountered another group of disc golfers doing the same) before spotting a basket and parking. A park ranger drove up and admonished the other group behind us to slow down. After that he told us where the real start location was.

Man, this course is crazy long and crazy tough! There is a stream running around the course that has a number of branches in it. Sometimes it is on both sides of the hole. And it is quite deep. Fortunately, the water is not that deep in it and it was easy to locate our discs.

I found some wild raspberries while searching for my disc. Mmm, tasty!

Oddly, it looks like they are installing some sprinkler lines on part of the course. Thats a first.

I had one great throw for a birdie.

We finally finished the course and drove home. By that time I was famished and we stopped by Papasitos for dinner. When I got home, I was covered in dust. You could definitely notice it on your glasses and ankles. Time for a shower and then sleep.

I stopped by Monument Cafe for food before First Friday games. I wanted to try their quiche or perhaps their yard-egg breakfast, but their choice of vegetables cinched it for me. I ordered: roasted beets, onion rings, fried eggplant marinara, and a black-eye bean salad with tomatoes and green peppers (that was more soupy than salady).

Toledo

Ed brought a new Wallace game. But this game is quite a departure from Age of Steam or Struggles of Empires. It is a lightweight family game about making swords. You can attempt to hose others by landing on their spot and challenging them. But the fights are decided randomly by flipping over cards (best two out of three). You can train to get advantages but the trade off is that you loose victory points at the end of the game.

Blue Moon City

And after the Wallace lightness, I played some Knizia lightness. Sigh. So sad.

Wow, I guess I can't call this game gathering First Friday Fluff anymore. Someone brought and played Agricola. They even went to the effort of creating animeeples out of sculpey clay.

Parthenon: Rise of the Aegean

Chapel brought out a new game that he bought a while ago but has not played yet. It is a civilization type game that is played with a bunch of cards. After working through the rules, we started to play. The problem with this game is that there are an awful lot of bad events in this game. Each year has four seasons and, during each season, an event was played. Every event that year had negative consequences and caused our building efforts to slow down. You can ship your goods to near and far markets to trade for other goods. But the problem with shipping is that event cards are drawn for the voyage (either one or two). Well, the chances for negative events are high!

All of these events got to me and, after skipping building for a couple of turns, I finally gave up playing the game. There was no way I would ever get out of last place. I don't think I will play this game again either...

Big Three

We finished off the night playing Big Three...